Pills and Potions
by lukeyandlou
Summary: What happens when a fun Friday night turns into a disaster, and five girls who don't even know each other have to deal with the sudden disappearance of the Hamato boys? What happens when the only trace left behind are some playing cards with some hints, and these girls have to have to travel the country to save them and figure out themselves and each other along the way? (GIRL!FIC)
1. Pilot

_**A/N: Hey guys, Sarr here! Since Fixing Donnie has wrapped up I'm back with something new – and this time, something new entirely. This one is for the girls of TMNT, who don't get as much appreciation and character development as they deserve – and my first Human AU! It's going to be a fun little summer story for me, and nowhere near as dark as my last works (but of course with my natural Sarr angst). Hope you'll like this one – stay fabulous!**_

 _ **Warnings: Strong Language, Violence, Death mention, Sexual Content, Innuendo, Mention of past abuse**_

 _The June night sparkled,_ __ _lightning bugs circulating the breeze under the navy sky. The woman stood against the rusty wall with her ears perked, hunting for any other information that her malicious brother may be passing. The building fell silent and led her to assume that these heinous discussions have concluded and she had written down any details she could get. The confused girl stood behind her, looking at her with an eyebrow quirked and a perplexed expression among her young face, waiting for an indication from her somewhat surrogate mother that it was safe to communicate._

" _Seems that they have left the room, most likely to get to their venomous whereabouts," the woman says, sadness lingering in her dreary hazel eyes. "If only there was something more that I could do about it."_

" _What do you mean, Alopex?" the child asks, reaching to grab her wrist. "Is something that matter?"_

" _Most definitely, Angel," she responds, her eyes scanning the premises to reassure their privacy. "I must inform you that tonight, they've got something terrible planned."_

" _Terrible?" Angel asks, twirling a strand of bright purple hair around her finger. "What else is new?"_

" _It's a little more than the corruption Saki Enterprises commits or the gang affairs your father is involved with, little one. This time, as far as I know, there are lives at risk."_

" _We're safe, aren't we? I mean, not that it's an issue if we are under a threat. I could take any of those bozos in my sleep if they so much as-_

" _Hush, Angel," Alopex warns, "Time is sacred and the time I have to share this message is even more limited, to say the least."_

" _Alright, okay. What's up?"_

" _Saki and your father are planning to take a life tomorrow evening, which I have no power in interfering. You see, I am afraid that I am not powerful enough to prevent this, and two lives would be taken rather than one, which will in no way assist the operation. They are planning a homicide and then a kidnapping, all in revenge to get back at two girls."_

" _Sounds pretty petty, typical man stuff. I mean, not that I would know, but I mean, who doesn't know? Anyways, uh, what is this you're speaking of? Death? Kidnapping?"_

" _It is not safe to disclose too much information, you shall be patient. However, my findings involve a list of places, people, and things, which all relate to these kidnappings. Kidnappings of innocents, which even in my days of crimes I have always felt repulsed by – especially when involving children. See, I have written what I know on some cards – at least in the most effective and sensible way in which I can organize. The reason I am telling you this is because I am unable to stay out of TC's sight without the risk of our lives. You, however, are not under the same obligation. You are to be on a mission, Angel – a very first mission of ours with the aim of saving somebody."_

 _Angel knew that questioning Alopex's wishes did not result in the best ways, and that if she were given an errand it was her responsibility to follow it – as that was the only thing that she has ever known._

 _Besides, she would do absolutely anything to disturb her pathetic father's intentions._

" _Okay, I'm listening," she smirks at the opportunity, "What's my role in this?"_

" _You are to find five people who you know that you can trust. Five people that love these missing boys, and who will be willing to follow this mission. You are to deliver them these cards and follow them throughout their mission, assure that they stay on the right path. It's the only chance at saving these boys – which would be our only possible way to take these tyrants down in the process. I am not only looking from a moral perspective, but by which would be most reliable in our own best interest. That way, we can escape from here – perhaps move to a whole new city entirely."_

" _Sounds just as appealing to me, but are you sure it's realistically gonna work Alopex? I mean, what if I can't find anyone who's down to risk their lives and follow some shady playing cards for these alleged infamous boys? Then what's a girl to do?" she pouts._

" _Angel," Alopex says, leaning closer and resting her palms on the girl's shoulders, "Even though you are only 13, you are so much brighter than your years. You know people more than anyone, and your spirit shall tell you what move would be right. I am not promising anything and I am never completely certain, but any chance, as I have always taught you, is worth taking the risk. I know that you, more than anyone else, are capable of conducting this critical message. I will be traveling cross country by morning, and I shall not be too far away if you happen to need the help."_

 _Angel takes a moment of consideration before nodding in agreement. "You're totally right, Alopex. If I don't try this, we may never get out of here – and what's the harm in taking a risk, huh?"_

" _I knew that you would be brave enough," Alopex smiles, Angel reaching to hug her. "You shall begin your spying tomorrow, and by nightfall you should have the information necessary to carry out. Keep these cards with you in order to distribute them when you feel that it is time. Keep following, but remember to remain stealthy until the very end."_

" _Gotcha, captain," she smiles, pausing to yawn._

" _You shall sleep now, child," Alopex smiles fondly as she leads the girl to her bed. "By tomorrow, after you follow to the Hamato household, you'll have quite a big mission in front of you."_

X

"Testing…1 2 3? Okay! Cool!" the ginger girl smiles enthusiastically, her face a little too close to the rim of the camera. "Hello, April O'Neil here, reporting to you live from the window sill of my bedroom in New York City. Today is Friday, June 23, 2017, and Day 1 of my period 4 communications live diary project."

"Currently, there is not very much news to report – which seems to me to be news in itself. You see, I just had to make a very critical decision on whether to start recording or finish my Physics packet first – all the price I pay for taking Summer School. However, Physics has been halted by a tragic turn of events – for the famous Donatello has failed to arrive! Of course, I'm not talking about the historical Donatello, I'm not completely insane, but instead of my best friend in the whole world who may or may not be historical at some point in the near future. Donnie happens to be a child prodigy, and high school physics is like kindergarten math to him. For myself on the other hand, not the same could be said. Viewer, I must inquire, what am I to do in such a critical situation?"

April crashes onto her bed in frustration, her eyes surfing to the clock. It was one hour later than when Donnie said that he was going to be here, and Donatello Hamato has _never_ been late.

"Okay guys, here's an idea," she returns to her camera, spunkily removing the screen from her window. We are going to use some super ninja stealth skills and go to see what Donnie is doing. With that crazy family, the possibilities are endless; has Splinter – that's their father, no one ever has actually questioned why we call him Splinter – caught them playing video games or watching old thrift shop VCRs instead of doing their chores? Have Raph and Mikey's bickering cost the life of one of Donnie's experiments? Have Klunk and Chompy – Mike's pet cat, which I happened to have rescued for him, and Raph's pet turtle got back into chewing up Leo's paperwork again? Or just maybe –

Her audio is cut off by the flashing circle on the camera frame, leading to its temporary demise.

"Rats," she mumbles, "I forgot to charge this old relic before I left. Oh well, that assignment was a drag anyways."

April decided to continue on her walk, because even with her camera dead, the Physics homework was not going to go and finish itself. Besides that, Donnie's absence was beginning to grow a tad concerning.

Perhaps Casey was hanging out with Raph as always, and Donnie had taken it upon himself to join them. If that was the case, and she didn't get an invite, she was going to go ballistic. Even worse, for Donnie to have the audacity to think punk Casey was more important than her would be absolutely devastating.

That theory was on its way out the window anyways, considering that Casey had been spending the majority of his time with some weird unhinged goth chick from school who had growled at her before when she dropped her books. Sometimes, the way that Casey found these people was beyond her, but after all, nothing Casey ever did could surprise anyone. He was Casey Jones.

The little house faded into her vision, a smirk of determination to solve this little mystery planting onto her face. She skipped a little faster, eager to see what kind of adventure, no matter how minor, she will find herself in today.

"Alright D, I'm on my way. Let's see what you're up to…"

X

 _Got a figure like a pin-up, got a figure like a doll – don't care if you think I'm dumb, I don't care at all. Candy bear, sweetie pie, I wanna be adored – I'm the girl you'd die for!_

Renet twirls under her fairy lights with her brush as a microphone, singing as she finished the final touches on her braids. She had spent approximately three hours painting a simple pink coat on her nails, as she begun to find that waiting until they dried was a dreadfully difficult challenge. Finally, she was satisfied with the lack of chipping, sliding down in front of the mirror and examining herself.

Her hair was good, her nails were great – yet there was something missing. Her face brightened in realization, seeing exactly what the problem was.

She opens her candy designed pouch and pulls out a sealed mascara that she received from an aunt on her last birthday, which had been sitting in the dust for months now. Even though she was already 16, Renet had never been the type of girl to tinker with makeup, until now that is.

Forty minutes, five failures and six YouTube tutorials later she had finally got the hang of it, swiping the wand against her lashes as gracefully as she could, an accomplishment for a girl as clumsy as herself. She took a note to try the false lashes next time to prevent this inky mess, but wondered if that would be an even harder challenge.

"Renet? What are you doing?" The voice causes her to jump.

"Dad, you've almost made me stab my eye out! Then I'd be a Captain Hook, and he never was a good character growing up," she giggles.

"Oh, do not be so dramatic," the man teases. "Speaking of growing up – what's with this new look? Just yesterday you were in a dirty t-shirt and winced at the thought of femininity."

"Oh please, I thought we already had a conversation about jumping to conclusions, Pop," she smiles. "It's not that big of a deal, I'm just getting ready to go out."

"Go out? And without asking first, I see?" he inquires accusingly.

"Of course not, I just didn't get the chance yet! Besides, it doesn't really count, I'm just going with Mikey to the arcade down the street. It's not like I'm going to a party or on a _date_ or anything."

"Hmm, really? I'm finding that hard to believe, Renet," he teases.

"What is there to believe, hmm?" she laughs.

"You claim that you aren't going on a date, but you're here putting makeup on to go out with a boy on a Friday night. It's been years past my experience, but last time I checked that sounds like a date to me."

"A _boy_? Now that's just a little ridiculous. Mikey isn't a boy – well, he is a boy, but you know, not that kind of boy – he's just my best friend. A girl can't wear some mascara once in a while, huh?" she sticks her tongue out.

"Now, I never said that daughter. I said I know my daughter, and maybe I know more than you think," he says, sitting down beside her and pulling up her t-shirt.

"I know Dad," she smiles fondly, applying some matching pink lip gloss. "I just never realized how good it is to feel pretty."

"You are always pretty, sunshine," he smiles, kissing her temple. "I just want to make sure you're safe, always."

"Of course I'm safe, Daddy! I'm just going to be at the arcade for three hours with my best friend, alright? I'll make sure to make curfew and everything."

"Alright, Renet. Let me see you before you're on your way."

She stands up and smiles, showing the gap in her teeth and the gleam in her golden hair.

"Beautiful as always," he smiles fondly, "How about a little of that lavender perfume that your cousin bought you?"

"Great idea!" she cheers, spraying it a little too excessively.

"Alright, daughter. Have fun and stay safe tonight, and I will see you at eleven sharp."

"Thanks Dad!" she kisses his cheek and grabs her handbag, "Love ya!"

"Love you too Renet," he smiles, watching as she exits out the front door.

As soon as she gets onto the street she feels a vibrate from her phone, seeing that it's a FaceTime call from Mikey. She smiles brightly, checking her reflection to make sure she looked good.

"Michelangelo!" she smiles, answering the call and seeing his wide smile.

"Hey Renet!" he grins. "I thought it'd be awesome if we talked on the way there, since we have to come from different directions and stuff. That way we could talk about what games to totally destroy once we get to the arcade."

"Totally!" she smiles. "So I heard that the got a new air hockey table since the old one was pretty bunk. When did that thing get old, 2007?"

"I could see a savvy tech table being cool, to fit the modern age and stuff. Donnie says those Virtual Reality things are like, revolutionary! So I guess a new air hockey table could be that way too. Yet no matter what, a classic is a classic."

"They better be planning to update those ticket eater things, that's for sure. If it doesn't count our tickets one more time I'm going to break that thing!" she exclaims.

"Seriously, I'm tired of that jerk! I keep trying to get you that dolphin on the prize rack, but of course every time all the tickets we earn go for nothing. I'm gonna make my own arcade if this keeps up!"

"Awe, you don't have to do all that for me Mikey. As long as we have fun together, right?" she dazes.

"Of course," he answers. "There's something different about you, isn't there?"

"Different?" she asks innocently.

"Yeah, uh, you look really pretty Renet," he blushes.

Before she can open her mouth to respond, she notices a man in a suit with sunglasses pounce out behind her best friend, seeming ready to attack!

"MIKEY BEHIND YOU!"

Her response is one second too late, for just as the boy turns around the man has his hands around his neck, stuffing a cloth into his nose.

"MIKEY!" she cries, freezing in place and panicking about what to do. Her best friend's blue eyes widen in terror, barely making out a calling of her name before falling unconscious and falling back into the man's arms, just before the call cuts out.

"Oh my god," she whimpers, tears bearing in her terrified eyes as she shakily reaches to call Donnie, the only of Mikey's brothers who she had the number of.

"Come on, pick up," she whispers, cursing under her breath when she hears Donnie's answering machine.

There was only one thing to do – to get there herself.

Still sobbing and failing to feel the pacing of her breaths she zooms into the night, as fast as her legs could carry her towards the Hamato house to go get help.

He had to be okay…

X

 _Boom. Boom. Boom._

The punching bag swung back and forth at the mercy of her movements, the tight curls of her hair tucked snuggly against the sharp features of her cheeks. At this moment, at least, there was not an ounce of anger in her muscular body – but rather excitement, and what better way could excitement be expressed than with a helpless, bean-filled sparring partner?

Although apparently it was not the only opponent in her presence. Her instincts immediately signaled a sharpness in her turn, warning her for preparation against an unexpected visitor.

However, it was no enemy or gang banger who stood behind her for a face-off – but instead a rather disconcerted Sal.

She persists on her bounce with a smirk, overpassing his efforts at an offense. Successfully escaping his grasp, she leans against the wall and takes a sip from the water thermos in contentment, as she enjoyed exercising the fact that she had achieved the ability of her trainer.

"Now, now, Mona," he says, bopping one of her curls, "No need to get so stirred up."

"I thought you said there was always a need?" she quirks her head, wiping the sweat from her gleaming ebony skin. "If I were to allow myself to be caught off guard, I might as well turn in my gloves and retire," she sticks out her tongue playfully.

Sal swipes his hand swings her over his shoulder to kill her a pride, her eyes widening greatly.

"No matter how skilled a warrior is, a warrior is never undefeatable," he reminds her as she flips herself against the couch, pouting almost pitifully.

"Aye, Commander," she teases, reaching for a Saltine cracker.

"In fact, you must watch to not become _too_ feisty. You never know what or who may fall as a casualty," Sal gestures to himself.

"I do not mean to be out of hand," she defends, "I only have to ensure that I am prepared for anything that dares to come my way. An impending enemy shall be no match for me – or at least, after enough training."

"I don't believe that pride is your incentive," he quirks his head, "You are far too noble."

"Of course not! I just – I worry, and I justify this as rightfully so. If something were to happen to you, or to Raphael, I would have to be in the condition to keep you guys safe," she sighs.

"No matter how headstrong and absolutely _vexatious_ you may be, Lieutenant," he chuckles, "You will always be the most promising warrior that I have ever known."

She blushes, leaning her head against his broad shoulders. "I only strive to do my best; and if I can never be undefeatable, to become the closest thing as possible, especially after what happened."

He smiles, passing her an ice-cold Gatorade that he originally planned to deliver. "I am very proud of you, Mona."

"Proud enough to let me go out tonight?" she inquires, blinking her eyes innocently.

"Let me guess, with Raphael again? I don't know Mona, you seem to be spending a little too much time with this boy lately…" he taps his thumb against his chin in contemplation.

"Hardly! Since school got out, I only see him like, twice a week tops. He and his brothers and that Casey kid are just going to hang out and stuff and I really want to go. You know I haven't made very many friends since the move – it gets very lonely," she pouts.

"Oh come on, the guilt trip tactic again?" he teases. "I don't know Mona, what do you think?"

"Pretty please?" she smiles as big as she can and clasps her hands together.

"I suppose you can this time," he surrenders.

"Ah, yay!" she cheers, jumping to hug him and then blushing in embarrassment and returning to a straight posture. "I mean, uh, thank you sir."

He giggles, scuffing her hair. "Why don't you make any girl friends around here? It's New York City, after all."

"Pst, you know I don't get along with girls. Never have," she says, leading him towards the car. "Or maybe, it's just that they've never took an effort to get along with me."

"I'm sure you could make friends here, Mona," he says, smiling fondly at her. "You're a great girl to be friends with."

"I already _have_ a friend, Sal," she responds.

"You're young to be liking boys. What happened to liking turtles and boxing?" he asks.

"I'm 17, Sal, and just because I like Raph doesn't mean I don't like turtles and boxing," she reassures.

"Whatever makes you happy Mona, that is all I am concerned for," he says, "But if that boy breaks your heart or hurts you in any way, I swear I'll-

"That won't be a threat, Commander," she promises, "Besides, I'm more of a danger to a boy than the other way around could ever be, I'm the next best thing to undefeatable."

"You sure are, Lieutenant," he smiles, pulling up at the liquor store. "You sure you want me to drop you off here?"

"Yeah, I wanna buy some sodas before I show up, and since the place is only down the street I can enjoy a nice run afterwards," she answers.

"Alright, Mona. Call me when to pick you up, but don't call me past 12. I love you, stay safe," he says as she begins to eagerly exit the car.

"I will, love you too!" she responds, shutting the door behind her and waving him off, making sure that he actually drove home this time.

With a six pack of Pepsi under her grip she embarks on the ten-minute journey to the Hamatos, her eyes shining with optimism for her new life and the settling feeling that nothing was going to go wrong. She starts a run with the soda hanging on her back, but slowing down when she notices a familiar red headed girl heading in the same direction.

X

The girl awoken from her meditative state, blowing out the candles on the alter she built in front of her. She released the herbs she was holding into the small creek that seeped through her window – at least she thought it was a creek.

"Magic is the Art of Causation. Magic speaks to the subconscious mind of man through symbols and rituals. Change is growth. There is no part of me that is not of the Gods. All things are possible to a trained mind," she whispers to herself, allowing the drained petals of a lily she picked from the nearby woods to fall against her pale skin, opening her amber eyes to see the two bats that she had captured gracefully flee through the open window sill.

"I'll see you all tomorrow, my children!" she cheers, giggling at the silliness of it all. She looks down when she feels four soft paws start crawling up her leggings.

"Did you have a good evening ritual, Kimiko?" she asks the kitten, stroking his black fur with her deep purple painted fingertips. "I had to do it a bit early tonight because Mommy has plans. Actual plans!" she rejoices.

The kitten purrs and affectionately rubs against her stomach, in which she responds by tucking his small body into her cloak.

"You remember Casey Jones, don't you darling?" she asks, stroking the top of Kimiko's head. "He was here last week so I could read his fortune, but we ended up smoking up here for a while. He was fun and he was the first of these New York imbeciles to know how to have a good time, so I thought I would kick it again."

Kimiko meows back at her, as if he were inquiring for her to elaborate on the subject.

"Not to mention he is a tad cute, for a onetime thing anyway. I'm starting to like the whole rugged kind of look, it matches my crazy more than any of these clean cut boys and girls that I've talked to do. Perhaps tonight will be a little more fun than the last," she smirks, "Should I have put a spell on him?"

"You're right, sometimes the spell just works for me," she continues.

She unlocks her phone, seeing that she received a text from this Casey boy about an hour ago, right before she had begun meditating.

 _You got Raph's address Shini?_

She smiles, wondering if this was the strange sensation of what it is to have a friend. Being the town crazy girl who talked to the butterflies at lunch time, that wasn't an occurrence to often come around.

 _A girl like me doesn't let a code slip over her head. I'll be there soon, if there's a good time_

A few nights ago, Casey had invited Shini to hang out at his best friend Raph's house this night, and then they'll see what happens. He said that his friends would totally like to get their fortunes read too, and that he thought it'd be cool to see a girl like her more. Normally, she would pass but she was always looking for a little fun.

Besides, he said he thinks Karai Oroku was going to be there. The coolest girl that she had ever laid eyes on – and even though she was punk and Shini was goth, Shini always secretly hoped to be just like her.

"I'll be back tonight Kimiko, or next morning if I'm lucky," she says, setting down the kitten and stroking her purple tinted hair to make sure it was as straight as possible, and then tucking her witch hat on top of it. "I love you, darling!"

Kimiko was the only family that she had ever had, as far as she could remember.

Meanwhile, a girl called Karai Oroku was laying on an air mattress in the Hamato's attic, silently eating some pho that she had gotten earlier.

She had been sitting in the silence for a while now, or at least she thought she had. She's been blasting her earbuds in for a while with an old Black Flag album, and she might have taken a nap along the way. No one except for Leo, and recently his brother Raph, were aware that she was staying up here, but she was perfectly contempt with being alone. In fact, she preferred it.

Their little family was so perfect that it disgusted her. Their perfect white smiles and stupid family photos plagued the house just to laugh in her face, so she stayed in the attic even when she didn't have to.

 _Smiling is for the weak, daughter. How many times do I have to tell you that until I have Mr. Stockman sew your lips straight?_

In the last few months since she's turned 18, she has had no intention of ever showing her face back home, even if it meant staying with stupid Leo and his stupid perfect face. Compared to before, this attic truly was heaven.

Leonardo may be the biggest pain in the ass of all time, but he sure did pull through more than anyone else ever did for her and she still wondered how she would repay him for that.

She sits up to fix the silver pillow case that he had gotten her, because that fool knew that silver was her favorite color. She notices the small, raggedy photograph she had stored beneath it, deciding to pick it up just for another peak. It was her mother and herself; when she was nothing but an innocent infant in the care of the most beautiful woman to ever know this awful world.

Until _he_ had to just go and rip the lives from the both of them.

"It's okay, mother," she whispers, "I've escaped him now."

Making sure that no one was looking, she kisses the photo quickly and holds it close to her chest, shutting her eyes placidly. She hears an opening in the windowsill and quickly throws it back under the pillow, flipping her body back around and shoving more pho into her mouth.

"Hello? Anyone in here?" another girl's voice comes into the attic, and she quirks her head in confusion. Well, that certainly isn't Leo.

"Who's asking?" she responds, putting down her noodles to light a cigarette to stick in her mouth. A tall girl emerges from the shadows, with an ominously moonless appearance other than the bright purple eyeshadow on her eyes and the moonlight color of her cheeks. The girl's eyes brighten when she notices her, pushing her long hair out of her face.

"You must be Karai," she says awkwardly, sitting crisscrossed onto the wooden floor boards. "I heard that you might be chilling here."

"Heard from who? Who are you?" Karai responds defensively.

"I'm Shinigami, may have seen you around. I'm here to hang out with Casey, said there was going to be a party of some sort tonight."

"Well, Shinigami, that's news to me," she says. "I haven't seen Jones all day, but I haven't seen that bozo Raph either."

"That isn't why you're here?" Shini asks innocently.

"Why I'm here doesn't matter," Karai says. "Casey been talking about me? That's cute."

"He mentioned that you show up around here sometimes, and everyone from school knows who you are. Of course, that's something worth mentioning."

Karai paid more attention to the girl's face in order to match an identity. "Oh, now that there's the light here I can see who you are. You're that goth girl, the one who puts hexes on the football players."

"They had it coming," she replies, smiling in accomplishment.

"I'm sure that they did. I dropped out a few months ago from that joint, didn't have the patience for those people. Wanna cig?" Karai offers, to which Shini immediately accepts. Karai wasn't the type to have friends, but since this girl appeared to feel the same way, they might as well bond over a common factor.

"You aren't from New York, are you?" Shini wonders.

"Tokyo native. It's been a while, so I sort of lost the accent but I can recognize it in yours. You from Japan?" Karai reciprocates.

"Yes, I have not been in America for too long. We were friends, I think."

"Friends? I do not know how that could be."

"In Tokyo, when we were children. A class where we learned English. I remember a girl called Karai, a girl who was smarter than the other children but too wild to be tamed," Shini recalls.

"Possibly. Most of my memories from back then are blocked out of my head, but perhaps one day it'll come back to me. It seems pretty improbable to forget a girl called Shinigami," she says.

"I was not born with this name, so you won't end up remembering. My name from before now does not matter," she says, and Karai smirks back at her. Maybe she'd like this girl.

Before she could reply, her jaw is frozen shut when they hear a sharp, agonizing, violent, shrill, blood-curling _scream._ And it was coming from just downstairs.

The two girls turn to each other discernibly, too shocked to make a move.

"We need to go see what the hell that was," Shini whispers harshly.

"I can't get down there and risk losing my cover, I am not about to be living on the streets again!" Karai rejoins.

"We have to see what it is now! We could be in danger! You didn't strike me as a coward," Shini detests.

"I am not a coward!" Karai swipes a pocket knife from her jacket and begins skating along the staircase. "Let's get to it then."

They crawl down the stairs stealthily, freezing in their footsteps once they reach the bottom. The scream belonged to April O'Neil, who was standing in the hallway with her mouth wide open, eyes wider than the entire sun and her whole body shaking uncontrollably.

"Oh my God," Shini whispers, her skin crawling at the source of the redhead girl's distress. Karai closes her eyes tightly before looking, recognizing the handy work and turning around instantly with a sudden crash of nausea.

Mona, who had not been too far away and had heard the scream as well, was the next to storm in the open door, looking urgent and ready for a fight. She too, gasps at the sight in front of her, blinking her eyes wildly, and standing at an observant and violent position to face any coming threat.

"GUYS! GUYS! ARE YOU GUYS HOME?!" the young girl's voice comes shrilling from the drive way, but the other four were too disturbed and in a state of trauma to realize it. Renet follows in the doorway and bumps into Mona and April, who do not react, angrily catching her breath and looking up with tears in her eyes, and before she could even open her mouth to speak the sight that lay in the center paralyzed her throat shut – and before she could scream she had passed out instantly.

For lying there in the center of that living room and in the girls' display was Hamato Yoshi, the father, who was bloody and gored and absolutely without a doubt utterly and completely _dead._

And without their knowledge, a girl named Angel was standing at the corner of the house watching with only one eye, making sure that the cards were sitting in plain sight for the girls to find before she zipped off into the night.


	2. Five Girls, One Mission

_**A/N: So, since the pilot went well – here's the first real chapter – and I'll be updating as regularly as I can (with work, summer classes and social life sometimes it's a little difficult to maintain a specific routine). However, since this one is only 15 chapter and a lot simpler than Fixing Donnie I hope to get on it as soon as possible!**_

 _ **Also, a note – one of my best friends Hamato Michelangelo has released a human AU called Double Helix and I thought I'd recommend it because I'm her editor and it's a great story – it features many characters from the TMNT universe, family angst and a mystery theme – I suggest you check it out!**_

 _ **I didn't mention it last time, but this story is dedicated to my girls – or, "best bitches" – Katie, Liv, Red, Emily and Amy – I love you all.**_

"Oh my _god."_

There are some sort of situations that are so absolutely breathtaking to experience that it seems physically impossible to form the words that would even remotely fit the initial feeling that such an event may cause. Whether it be unlimited joy, such as when the love of your life finally proposes or you learn that you aced that one final exam, or extreme sadness, or boiling anger and fear all together, such a strong wave is too powerful for the larynx to properly function.

For these girls, they were paralyzed by the punch of three out of four, and happiness was certainly not one of them.

"Splinter," April is the first to react, whining the nickname in a vulnerable cry of lament. She desperately searches for a pulse, even when the sight of gore erased that possibility at first glance. She grabs his cheeks and presses her forehead against him, about to grieve when her eyes shoot open at horrid realization. "Wait, the guys! Where are the guys?!"

She springs from his chest and sprints to the kitchen, pulling a kitchen knife and holding it behind her back to safely search the house in case the killer was still present. Mona instantly follows her lead, her protective and fiery instinct kicking in but slightly tainted by worry for Raphael. Karai follows them but is a bit hesitant, her face white as snow and her eyes a bit dazed, all because she definitely recognized that style of nefarious craftmanship.

And she could definitely guess _why_ it had been done. At this rate, who knows what could have happened to Leo.

Shini walked to Renet, grabbing a plant in a bottle and sprinkling the water on Renet's forehead. She dizzily opens her eyes and sits up, curling her body in a ball and trembling instantly.

"Come on, a psychopath may still be in here!" Shini whispers to her, handing the younger girl one of her own butterfly knives and gesturing for her to follow. Without verbally responding, she pretends to know how to work the weapon and follows closely behind just in case.

"I can't find them," April panics, frantically searching each of the bedrooms. Mona slides down against the wall and surrenders in frustration, for there is no single trace of the boys left to be found.

"They're not in the attic for sure, we were just in there," Shini confirms.

"You," Mona stands up and accuses, starting to jaunt towards a startled Karai who was leaning against the staircase. "You were already here! You saw the body and did nothing, how are we supposed to trust you? Where are the guys, huh?"

"I don't fucking know!" she defends, "I didn't hear anything, I swear to God. I thought they went to the market or something, no one was here! I don't even know if it happened here, it couldn't have. My instincts would have picked it up."

"Then why do you look so nervous?" Mona questions, getting closer to Karai's face.

"Because I recognize something, you idiot. You of all people should know that, ever occur to you? Ain't you Newt's daughter? You know about the damn Foot Clan just as much as I do, admit it," she raises her voice, "And get the hell out of my face before I fuck up yours, street rat."

"Yeah, I happened to recognize it, just when I remembered who exactly trained you. How do you kill, Karai? Don't try acting like you haven't before, princess of the foot," she responds.

"Are we forgetting about witch girl over here? She was here too, was she not? Some satanic ritual or something is always a damn option," April spits.

"STOP IT!" Renet interrupts, her cross expression taking them by surprise. "What is wrong with you people? Someone's been murdered in cold blood, the guys are nowhere to be found and all you can think about is tearing each other apart? Have some decency!"

"The kid has a point," Mona says, "This isn't doing anyone any good."

"Damn right," Renet scoffs, "The boys aren't here. They were taken, taken by some men in suits. I don't know about what happened to the others, but I was facetiming Mikey and some man in a suit popped up behind him, knocked him out, and cut off the call. I couldn't get to him in time and no one would answer me, so I came here to help." A single tear drops from her disturbed eyes. "I thought there would be somebody that could help."

"So they're taken," April contemplates, "Who would take them? They're good kids, they aren't involved in anything that would make someone want to take them."

Karai considers speaking up, but she decides to keep quiet. She could solve this without bringing what has been happening into it. As long as that bottom feeder Mona doesn't run her mouth-

Too late.

"I haven't been involved with my father in almost a year, and he's the lead of the only gang around here with the capability to do something like this. They're the puppets of Saki's little Foot Clan deal, and all I know is that guy and Hamato Yoshi had some major beef. That could be the cause of it," she pauses and turns to Karai, "Or is there some other cause we should know about?"

"Guys," Shini interrupts, who had found her way back downstairs after wandering aimlessly, "I think there's something you should see.

The girls quickly make their way back down, forcing their heads with all their might to not turn anywhere near the corpse of a man that they once knew. Shini looking up and five little notecards, all which formed the shape of a star on the floor near the placemat.

"I swear these weren't here when we walked in," April observes, kneeing down to look at them.

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Mona wonders, picking one up to read. "This one says 'Albany, New York, a man with gold teeth'. What is that supposed to mean?"

"They all have different locations on them, with a weird string of words under them," Karai says quietly. "This isn't something that Saki would do."

"Maybe they're where the guys are? It could be telling us where they are?" Shini wonders.

"Alright, that's it," April says, yanking her phone from her back pocket. "This kind of whack isn't to be messed around with. I'm calling 911."

"No!" Karai panics, reaching to smack the phone out of her hand and resulting in April's appalled expression. "Don't bring the police into it, that's only going to make things worse."

"Are you insane! Someone has been _murdered_ and you expect me to not call the police? The hospital? The people that actually know how to deal with this?" April responds, securing her phone into her grasp.

"She's right," Renet says, "The only reason someone wouldn't want to call the police is if they had something to hide."

"God, I don't have something to hide!" Karai groans in frustration. "I just know deep shit when I'm in it, deep shit that you two sheltered children have never known in your lives. As much as I despise that, I know my father and I know how gross things get when authorities are involved, and unless you want to end up like poor Yoshi here you're going to have to trust me. Don't stick your nose into something that you don't understand, and if you aren't able to handle this just go home and let me deal with it."

"I am _not_ abandoning my boys, no matter what," April firmly states, "Might as well get used to me because I am not moving."

The girls all jump from the sound of a ringtone, one of the generic ones that come with the phone settings, but when you find yourself in such a dire situation even the simplest of things can be questioned as a potential enemy. Mona pulls her phone from her pocket, seeing that there was a call from a strange private number.

"That's just great," she scoffs, feeling the demand for a listen and responding by answering the call and putting it on speaker.

"Hello, my princess, long time no see," a macabre voice speaks, "Hang up on me and your little boy toy gets his throat slit."

"Newt," she whispers in horror. "I swear to Christ I'll find you and I'll ring your neck around my fist until you are begging for just a grasp of air-

"Awe, seems that you haven't changed a bit, Mona Lisa. You know what they say, like father like daughter," he snickers maliciously.

"I don't even have time to roast you right now, not until you're roasting in the crematorium I've built under my house just for you," she hisses.

"Absolutely adorable. I know you're with that spoiled brat Karai Oroku right now. Put that bitch on the phone too, I have a message for the two of you," he says.

"I'm right here, asshole!" Karai shouts, storming as close to the phone as she can. "Come and bite me."

"Seems that you girlies have been naughty as of late. Is that anyway to treat your fathers? It was only the responsible choice to punish you," he tells them.

"Tell that tin foil burnt toast that I'm not a child anymore, and I will make the only responsible choice of taking his life if he comes near me again. Directly from yours truly," Karai threatens.

"Your disrespect has come back to make you pay. Since you two have been relying on these little boys as a statement to laugh in the face of your family, we decided to take that away from you. Instead of killing them like their pathetic father, they're going to rot away in places that you'll never find them. However, they do have a chance. Surrender yourselves in, and no one is going to get hurt," he informs.

"I will not surrender, even in death. You've under estimated what I've become – I'll handle you and your posse on my own. If you think that my boyfriend is the reason I've left your abuse, you're just as stupid as that self-inflicted scar on your face," Mona laughs.

"Why can't that snake Saki talk to me, huh? Too much of a pussy to say anything to my face? I dare him to come up to me, I fucking dare him," Karai says.

"As entertaining as this conversation may be, seems that it's time for me to get going. It's about time to eat my supper in front of your starving little baby. Have fun guessing which one, or maybe it's all of them since they haven't all yet been placed in their individual locations. Don't bother calling back. Toodeloo, my dearest children – and by the way, we took that missing tooth kid too just for the kick of it," he says, the phone call cutting abruptly.

"I fucking knew it was that fucker's fault. As long as he's alive, I'll never be free I guess," Karai mutters, her eyebrows arched in anger.

"HELL!" Mona yells, impulsively punching the wall, fat bruises forming as soon as the boards crack. She hangs her head and lets out a sob in frustration. Once again, she had finally found something good until it was ripped away from her and she couldn't do anything to defend him.

"Listen, art hoe," Karai says, "I know it's a bit hypocritical for a psycho bitch like me to be saying this, but you should really calm down. We may have our differences and you've probably wanted to sock me in the face for the past few years, but I guess this is a fight we share. I guess, maybe, that we should work together. We fight different, but we share strength, and if we join forces we have a chance at bringing the boys back. We succeed and we'll never have to talk again."

"Okay. You're right," Mona says, bringing herself to taking deep breaths. "We'll have to do this. We won't let them win."

"I can help," offers Shinigami, "I have some skills that can help me find them, and I know some healing mantras too. You may not believe in what I do, but my help is worth a shot."

"I'm coming too," April adds. "Donnie, his brothers, Casey – they're family to me. They've done so much to protect me and now it's my turn to protect them. I'm coming no matter what."

"Me too," Renet says sadly, "I have to find my best friend too."

"Alright," Karai says, "Since you three are already this deep I guess it's safest to let you come along. But that's it, alright? We aren't telling any other soul what's going on."

"I have to find a way to tell my Dad I'm okay, his heart wouldn't be able to take it if he thought something happened to me," Renet panics.

"We'll find a way to let our families know that we're safe, I'm in the same situation. But other than that Karai is right, getting anyone else involved will get them into danger," Mona says.

"How are we going to know where to find them? Are we going to trust these cards?" April points out.

"The aura they give off tells me that they have significance," Shini says. "Besides, they're our only chance at finding them. We haven't got anything else to go off of."

"What if they're a trick of some sort? They could be leading us in the opposite direction of where we need to be and wasting our time and resources so that they can get us off their backs," Renet worries.

"I guess sometimes, taking a risk is the only means possible to make it somewhere. I guess we'll have to trust them," Karai decides.

"We're going to have to come to one agreement, if we're going to become a team. No matter what, we will have to go to any measure possible to bring the boys home. We will have to do anything it takes to bring justice, no matter what it takes to do so. If you don't agree with that, now is the moment to get up and go home," Mona says.

The other girls nod in agreement.

"Okay then. For now on, no matter what kind of problems we have with each other, we are going to be a team. And we are to behave in the way that a strong team should," she continues, putting her hand into the center. "Are you with me?"

April instantly puts her hand over Mona's, followed by Renet, Shini and finally Karai.

The five girls, who didn't know each other and led five very different lives, would for now on fight as one.

"Now is the time to send your families a letter or something. After that, we have to cut off connection to everyone else," Karai says.

"We can text them a video of ourselves explaining that we are safe and gone on a mission. Then, we will have to leave our phones behind," April says.

"We have to call someone for Yoshi. We can't just leave him like this, and if we call the police. Leave our phones and split they won't be able to question us. They'll just do what they have to do with the body," Renet suggests.

"Okay. I have an old flip phone upstairs that we can take with us in case we need it," Karai advises.

"There's no one in the place I stay, no one ever. We can bounce there and figure out a plan. I'll call 911 and you guys message your families," Shini tells them.

"Renet, you go first," Mona says. "April, you go next and I'll go last. You two have anybody?" Mona asks, turning to Shini and Karai.

"I have no one," Karai states. "It's okay," Shinigami says, "I don't either."

"Alright then, Mona says, turning on the camera on her phone. "Let's do this."

"Okay. Hey daddy," Renet starts, "I know I promised I'd only be three hours but this time you're going to have to make an exception. You totally have the right to ground me when I'm back, I won't even protest. I promise that I'm safe, and I'm with people who will keep me safe too. I sadly can't tell you much, but I'm going to do something super-superheroey. My best friend is in trouble, and I'm going to save him, but right now no one needs to be saving me so don't worry at all. I won't be too long, I swear it. I love you daddy. I'll be home soon."

"Hey Dad," continues April, "You're not even home right now so you're probably gonna be discombobulated to find me not there. I swear I haven't been kidnapped, in fact it's quite the contrary. I'll be home soon, and I am as safe as I could be. I love you."

"Sal, I won't blame you if you never let me out again, but I swear I can explain. It has something to do with my past, but not in the way you would think. I am safe, just fighting my own battle, but I need you not to worry about it. I'll be home soon, I just need you to take care of the place and wait for me. I love you."

 _911, What's your emergency?_

"There has been a murder on 1897 61st street. A middle-aged man is dead. You might want to come check it out," Shini says, hanging up and grabbing her stuff urgently.

"Come on, follow me to my place," Shini says, the girls following her to the upper window in the attic. "We'll figure out a plan over there where it's safer."

And with that, only two hours after they had all left home to have fun on a Friday night, they were off and away to embark on the biggest mission they would ever come across.


	3. Five Girls, One Plan

_**A/N: This one is a shorter chapter, but all the like it's a necessary chapter that fits best separate.**_

Jumping out of a window was always associated with imminent death, or at least a broken neck. It was something that parents stress as an event crafted by the devil himself, and any good kid wouldn't dare to proceed with such a sinful action. There was always that one kid on the block, though, who would do it purely out of spite, and that was the kid that everyone tended to follow. At some point, they would all get broken arms, if they're lucky.

These childhood lessons were not considered in the slightest as the five girls popped out of the Hamato window that night, one by one behind each other's trails.

Shini had jumped first, Karai following her, the two not breaking a sweat. Mona did likewise, as she has engaged in much more risky activity before. April shrugged before she jumped, and Renet had to admit that she was quite afraid.

' _Anything for Mikey',_ she remembered.

She wobbled a little with her fall, but she didn't have a broken arm, at least.

"Did anyone think of how we're going to get there? I'm pretty sure most of us walked here," April points out.

"I guess we'll have to the same, you guys have any experience with running?" Mona asks.

"I barely passed PE," Renet whines.

"We don't time for this, unless you guys would rather be caught by the police and eventually end up with a katana up our asses. I have a little on my card, we'll call an Uber," Karai concludes, whipping out her phone.

"Don't Uber drivers kidnap people? Last time I tried a picture of some old man with a mustache popped up so I just-

"That isn't our concern right now, O'Neil," Karai snaps, "We need out of here now!"

"There's a liquor store ten minutes away, I got dropped off there. It's not ridiculously far but far enough for the police not to find us. We're going to have to do a little running after all," Mona says.

"Fine. Let's get to it!" Karai says, zooming forward without hesitation with Shini behind her tracks.

April and Renet turn to each other and take a gulp.

"Don't ask me why I know how to do this," Mona says, leaning towards a bike rack on the other house's lawn. "Don't try this at home kids."

Within 30 seconds, the bike chains are unlocked and ready to go.

"I can only get one, double up," Mona says, running as fast as she can.

"I'll petal, I used to bike the trail every week as a kid," April says, "Not to be weird, but make sure you hold tight onto my waist."

Renet nods urgently and jumps behind April, the two of them speeding through the sidewalks and soon proceeding past those who actually could run.

"Ha, showed them," Renet jokes, a tiny smirk on her face. April wasn't in the mood to laugh.

"We're here," Mona announces, not even needing to stop and catch her breath.

"I already ordered the Uber, says it's a white civic driven by some white guy named Bob. According to this thing it'll be here in five minutes," Karai says.

"If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go in the store and buy some gummy bears," Renet sighs, "I always turn to gummy bears in a time of crisis."

"Make it quick blondie, if the guy gets here first we won't have time to wait on you," Karai warns.

"I'll go with her," April says, "I too could use a quick coffee. Also, who doesn't love to get some space?" She glares at Karai before turning her face and zipping off.

"Be easy on them," Mona says once the two girls are inside, "They haven't seen the stuff that we have."

"Must be nice," Karai snarks sarcastically, leaning against the cement and drooping her head into the crook of her jacket.

"Um, what are you doing?" Mona turns to Shini, who is sitting crisscrossed with her bangs over her face and balancing a purple stone on her temple.

"It's my spirit stone," Shini smiles, "I tend to exercise its energy when I must prepare for the exhaustion of human interaction."

"Oh," Mona replies, sitting on the other side of the cement and wondering how her life had turned to lead to her being surrounded by these people.

Raphael better be grateful once all of this is over. She at least expected dinner and flowers.

Renet and April rushed back to their places with their purchases in hand, nervous expressions on their faces. "Oh jee, I thought we were too late!" Renet exclaims.

"Nope, sadly still waiting," Karai groans. "Five minutes my ass. When the hell is this thing coming?"

She swipes open her phone aggressively and tightens her grip when she sees the screen. "Seven minutes? You've got to be kidding me!"

"I'm starting to think we'll be here forever," April frowns.

"At least you have your caramel Frappuccino," Karai smirks.

"It's a mocha latte," April rolls her eyes, "Frappes are cold drinks."

"Whatever you say, strawberry shortcake," she replies.

"Does anyone want a gummy bear? I have enough to go around," Renet says quickly, as arguments made her nervous.

"Hell, why not," Mona says, reaching into the bag. "Thanks, Renet."

"Karai?" Renet smiles. She could tell that Karai was the type of girl you'd like to be on great terms with.

"I've actually never had one. Shocker to the middle class, I know. Saki never allowed me any candy or any other sources of happiness," she replies.

"Oh, now that's just unorthodox! You're gonna have to try one now! It's okay to spit it out if you don't like it, I won't get my feelings hurt or anything. I think the clearish ones are the best, but Mikey likes the red ones," Renet smiles, handing the bag to her.

"Sure, why not," Karai shrugs, popping the small candy onto her tongue. She chews for a second, and then a tiny smile appears across. "Hey, that's pretty good. I guess I was missing out all these years." Her expression had softened immensely, and her eyes seemed the slightest less sharp.

"It's the little things in life," Renet says, and with that they sit in silence for another three minutes and 25 seconds.

"I am seriously losing my patience with this guy," Karai snaps, "What the hell is he doing, getting to his KKK meeting? As soon as I get my hands on him, I swear I'll-

"Isn't that a white civic pulling in?" Mona says, pointing to the driveway.

"Bingo," April smiles, standing up quickly with her coffee in hand. "Shini, you there?"

Shini shakes her head and opens her eyes, catching the stone in her hand. "Sorry, I thought I'd slip in some quick meditation. Any action yet?"

"C'mon, we're getting the hell out of here. Let's beat it before I end up hearing more of Bob's bullshit," Karai says, heading towards the car.

"What about the bike?" Renet inquires.

"Fuck the bike," she hears Karai say from a few feet away.

"I'll have to agree with her on this one," Mona says, we don't have time for it. Maybe the rightful owners will end up turning up, in a perfect world."

The girls all arrive at the civic doors, the window sliding down quickly as Bob pushes his head out of the window.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he says, "I could fit three passengers max. Two of you chicas have to take that bike over there."

"I was right about bullshitting Bob," Karai turns to the girls. "Listen here, Larry the cable guy. I am on an urgent level of emergency zipping and I don't have time argue with 48-year olds. We'll fit."

"Not unless you want to pay extra Jappy," he smirks, "I accept things other than cash too."

"Will you accept this?" she asks, pulling a pocket knife out of her back pocket and holding it to his neck.

His face panics, rolling his chubby body back forward towards the wheel. "Get in."

"As much as I despise registered sex offenders, I'm not about to get touched. I'm going shotgun," Karai announces.

"April, you can sit on my lap. With Karai out of the equation, you're the smallest and I'm the largest."

Shini goes in first, followed by Renet in the middle and then Mona on the other end. April gets on her lap, sipping her coffee awkwardly.

"Never bring this up again?" she asks.

"Agreed," Mona states.

"Get to 863 Park Avenue. Max the speed limit," Shini tells him.

Bob steps on the accelerator, and within seven minutes they are near the abandoned business where Shini stays.

"Bye loser," Karai says as the girls quickly exit the vehicle. "If I had more time and more morality, I'd report you for being a manslut."

"I stay upstairs," Shini tells them. "There's an elevator shortcut, but I expect the thing to break down any day now. My greatest apologies if you aren't prepared yet for the sweet release of death."

"Great, the last thing I need is for us to be stuck in an elevator together in an abandoned building with no ability to call the police," Mona mutters.

To their satisfaction, they were able to exit the elevator with no issues interrupting. Perhaps there is a god.

The girls follow Shinigami into the room where she makes her residency, seeing nothing other than a mattress and a plethora of shrines. And, a black cat with a purple collar on.

"I know I'm back early Tenshi," Shini says, kissing the kitten's head. "Mommy may be back a little late. You know where the food is."

"Awe, kitty," April smiles, the first smile all night. Baby felines are just too hard to resist.

"Okay, let's get down to business," Mona says, "How are we gonna work out this code?"

"It's just like a puzzle, simple," Shini says, "Cards are a specialty of mine. Hand them over."

Each girl puts the card they were holding on the table as Shini assorts them.

"All five of them read different cities. Albany, New York, Euclid, Ohio, Meadow Woods, Florida, San Francisco, California, and Lake Havasu, Arizona. There's five cities and five boys missing, so I'm guessing that they're each in one of these cities," Shini observes.

"Only one of those cities is in the state. Two of those are cross country, whoa," Renet comments.

"How do we know it's not a trick? It could be a distraction to get us out of their hair," Mona says.

"We don't know," April says, "We just have to take the chance. It's a wild chance, but it might be the difference between life and death for the boys."

"Redhead's right. Besides, I know the handwriting of everyone at Saki Enterprises, and The Foot alike. These look like they were written by a 13-year-old," Karai says, holding out the card to Mona. "Look familiar to you?"

"I don't think so, but there's a bell ringing in the back of my head. It's nothing to worry about though, that bell can't be right," she says sadly, "Anyways, I guess these are the only hints we have."

"They're a little more specific than cities. The each have a location within, and a noun. See?" Shini says, turning the cards to face everyone.

 _Albany, New York – Frat Party, a man with gold teeth_

 _San Francisco, California – Night Club, the tallest man's hotel_

 _Lake Havasu, Arizona – Dirt bike race, a hot pink Honda_

 _Euclid, Ohio – yellow mansion, a checkered mistress_

 _Meadow Woods, Florida – black apartment building, a prostitute_

"Well, that's slightly disturbing," April says.

"Albany is not that far, compared to the others. It's two and a half hours from here. Maybe we should go there, and investigate what the card is saying and if we hit anything gold we'll continue to the rest of the places. Like, if we find a lead or find one of the guys we'll hit the other four cities and if it's a drag we'll get back home and figure out some way to bust the distraction. Sound like a plan?" Karai says.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Mona adds, "Everybody?"

The girls all turn to each other and nod confidently.

"So, we have to look for a frat party and a man with gold teeth. That's fun," April chuckles.

"What's a frat party? Does it have any cake? When I went to a party once, we had to have an invitation," Renet asks innocently.

Karai and Shini laugh a little while Mona and April shake their heads. "You don't need to know, kiddo," April says.

"She'll have to find out then," Karai insists. "It's a party that they have at colleges. Drunk 18-year olds, I'll probably fit right in. I don't think they have cake though, unless you count cocaine."

"Don't ask what cocaine is," April whispers to Renet.

"Anyways, big idea, we'll be hitting up some universities and see what's up. We're cute girls, so it shouldn't be a problem getting info. According to frat boys, the world goes round for cute girls," Karai finishes.

"Karai complimented _me_? It's a miracle!" April laughs.

"Don't flatter yourself, ginger," Karai adds, "Fact is that half of us got ass and the other two have mad tit-

"Alright, that's enough," Mona says, attempting to suppress the chuckle in her throat. "If we find the party, I suppose we'll have to look for a man with gold teeth."

"We need to prepare a total map, just in case. If we get up there and find that we need a national road trip, we aren't going to want to be unprepared," Shini suggests.

"Okay," Mona lays out the map, "We're going to want to go from order in distance. We've gotta draw this out to prevent any zig-zags."

"Anyone have anything we could draw on?" April asks.

"I have a tissue in my pocket," Renet offers, "I had a cold last week so I brought it with me just to be safe. It has nothing on it though, I promise!"

"We'll have to do with it," April says, grabbing the tissue and spreading it out of the table. "Anyone have something to right with now?"

"I have black nail polish," Shini says.

"Again, will have to do," April inhales. Shini hands her the polish and she tries her best to make out the shape of the United States.

"That looks like mashed potatoes," Karai says, causing Renet to laugh.

"Sorry that I don't have an art degree, alright?" April defends. "That's beside the point." She checks the cards again to confirm each of the locations, leaving a dot on the area of the country where they're supposed to be.

"So, here we are in Manhattan," April says, starting a line. "We go upwards to Manhattan, and then from there we go east to Euclid on a curve. After that, we go directly south to Meadow Woods. This is the point where it's gonna be a bitch to drive. Now, this is the extreme one – go west across the country to Lake Havasu, and then North West to San Francisco."

"That looks like a cloud of black and white. Tumblr would love it, though," Karai says, snickering at the tissue disaster.

"Wait, couldn't we just use Google Maps?" Renet asks.

The girls stare at each other for a second.

"Well, that's embarrassing," Mona says.

"I'm too distraught to think," April says, balling up the tissue and throwing it at the trash bin.

"Just put in from this address to Albany. That's all we need to deal with for now," Mona advises.

"In that case, we'll need a charger," Shini says, pulling her plug out of the wall.

"Hold up – did anyone consider _how_ we are going to get there? We had to take an Uber for a seven-minute drive," Renet points out.

"Shit," Karai says, the five of them in a circle looking at each other.

"My Dad has a spare van," April says, "He keeps it in the back of the garage, which I have a spare key to. He's out of town tonight, so he won't notice if we take it. Do you know how to key a car?" she turns to Karai.

"You know I do," Karai smiles. "Never would have thought our hoodlum habits would be useful in saving people, aye bud?" she elbows Mona's arm.

"Hilarious," Mona sighs. "How far is it April?"

"Isn't too bad. I walk from there to the guy's all the time. We'll have to take the back route though, in case we run into the police."

"Okay, let's get on with it then. Everybody has everything they need to take?" Karai asks.

"I can't think of anything we'd need other than the charger, and our phones of course," Shini says.

"Nope. We're not bringing any of your phones. Only mine, for maps," Karai says.

"Excuse me? What makes you exceptional?" April asks.

"Mine's jailbroken, smarty. It can't be tracked. However, you know your little iPhones would be tracked immediately once your daddies file missing persons reports. They stay," Karai insists.

"She's right," Renet sighs, setting hers down on Shini's mattress. "The kitty will watch out for them for us!"

The other three hesitantly add theirs as well, and Shini puts the blanket over them.

"Okay," Mona says, "Let's do this."

Shini bends down to Kimiko, who was taking a nap on his small bed.

"I love you Akachan," she smiles, fondly rubbing her cheek on the kitten's head. "Stay safe for me, okay? I promise I'll be back as soon as I can. I left the food open for you." She caresses the cat one more time before turning to face the door.

"None of you guys are gonna pussy out on this half-way through, right? I can't afford something like that. I think only Mona and I understand how messy this might be, and if you get in that van tonight you're not coming back until this is over," Karai states, blocking the door and looking specifically at Renet.

"We're all in this together," Renet affirms. "There's no turning back ever since we walked through that door this evening."

"Alright," Karai says, "Now we beat it."

The girls flee and begin their walk, following April down the side streets which would avoid the Hamato house."

"I can't get over the frat party," Karai smiles, "Is there gonna be cake? There sure is, but it ain't the kind ya think."

"Does all this even phase you at all?" Mona asks.

"You know, I have my own dork too. If I'm worried, you'll never know, but you have the okay to assume. When you seen what I have, you ain't get phased that easy," she replies.

"Thanks for the permission. I appreciate it," Mona says sarcastically.

"It'd be a crack up if Leo's the one up in Albany. If Yoshi was alive to see his angel snorting coke, he'd probably die again of a heart attack. Right Reddy?" Karai looks forward to April.

Instead of replying, April stops dead in her tracks. Karai turns to Mona and quirks her eyebrow in confusion, and before Karai can comment again they notice her shoulders contracting and then a sob.

"She's crying, just what we needed," Karai whispers to Mona.

"Heartless bitch," Mona replies, pushing her out of the way so she could move forward to April. "Hey, you okay?"

"H-He's dead," she whispers, turning aggressively back to them with tears running down her red cheeks. "He's dead!"

Renet instantly runs up to April and wraps her arms around her, tucking her head into her shoulder. April takes a moment but accepts the embrace, hugging her back.

"It's going to be okay, I promise," Renet comforts, "He's still with us in spirit forever and ever. It's going to be okay and I'll even let you have the rest of the gummy bears!"

April continues to cry into Renet's shoulder, and Mona puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, uh, April?" Shini says, and April opens her bloodshot eyes. "I have an Apache Tear on me. It's also called a grief stone, and it helps you feel comfort at the loss of a loved one. You can have it," she smiles weakly, handing the crystal to her and placing it in her palm.

"Th-Thank you," April says, wiping her eye and placing the stone in her pocket. "Thank y-you."

"Look, I understand if you don't feel up to walking right now. You can come sit on my shoulders if you want, if you show me the directions. I usually lift twice your weight, so don't sweat it," Mona offers.

"A-Are you sure?" April asks shakily.

"Sure thing. I mean, you have already sat on my lap," Mona says.

"We we-weren't su-supposed to talk about th-that," April tries her best to smile.

"I guess I even break a rule or two sometimes," Mona smiles, leaning down so Renet and Shini could help April onto her shoulders.

"See what we're showing?" Mona whispers to Karai as they start to walk again. "It's called compassion. You really should learn how to have some."

Karai looks down in what just might be shame, and she is silent for the rest of the walk. All of them are, other than April quietly directing Mona on where to go.

"Here we are," April says, her voice small and run down. She jumps down from Mona's shoulders and pulls a key from her pocket, where she opens the garage. "There's the van."

"Damn, that's archaic," Shini says, noticing that it was an old yellow 60s VW which peace signs painted all over it.

"I think the word you're looking for is totally groovy," Renet comments.

"My dad was a hipster when he was younger," April says softly.

"Okay, I'm ready," Karai says, finally speaking once more. "April, could you go inside and get a hanger?"

"Sure thing," April says, zipping upstairs. The other four wait in silence for her return in an intense awkwardness, Karai tries to ignore the three sets of eyes that must be on her.

April returns with a coat hanger and hands it to Karai. "Perfect," she says, showing April a slight smile.

Karai twists the hanger apart so that it could be straightened, cringing a little from the pricks in her fingers. She bends the hanger into a V shape, feeling the calluses emerge on her skin. She continues process until she pries open the window and is able to slide the hanger down and pop open the lock.

"Won't need this old thing anymore," she says quietly to herself, throwing it across the garage. "Now, time for the mechanics. You might wanna pay attention kiddos, in case I'm not around to help anymore. Pretty high chance now days."

After messing with a few wires and such for another ten minutes, the car motor finally begins.

"This is going to take forever to start every time. You sure there isn't a key around here somewhere?" Karai asks.

"I don't think so," April says, attempting to think.

"Is it this key by any chance?" Renet asks, holding an old key and wiping the dust from her hands.

"How do you find these things?" April asks, her eyes widening.

"Well, there's a post note here that says 'van key under rug'," Renet replies.

"Again, I'm too distraught to think," April says, grabbing the key from her and almost, slightly, chuckling.

"I can drive," Mona says, reaching out for the key.

"Sounds good to me," Karai says, "But again, I want shot-gun. Just between you and me, I have a tendency to get carsick. I lied back at the Uber. You guys can touch me all you want. Especially when I'm drunk."

"I'll pass," Mona replies, waiting for the rest of the girls to get situation.

"There's no backseats back here, hope you're okay with that," April says, leaning against the wall.

"Seems fun," Renet smiles.

"Seems like home," Shini says, stretching out her long body to lay down. "WAIT!"

The other four girls turn to her sharply. Karai would ask what the hell is wrong now, but she's not going to make that mistake again.

"I just wanting to give you a warning. I um, never had any friends before. Well, Casey, but I don't know if he counts me as a cheap fuck or not. I'm sorry if I act weird or get to be too much, I don't really know any better. Hell, I'm in this because I'm that desperate for getting my only slightly friend back. You guys can ditch me if you want. I'll understand," Shini says, twirling her hair around her finger.

"Of course we'd never abandon you!" Renet says. "You don't have to say that anymore, because now I'm your friend!"

"Thanks blondie," Shini smiles, "Aren't you a trick."

"I don't know you Shini, but you were there for me," April says, holding onto the crystal. "I don't know how I'll pay you back, but I promise one day I will."

"Like we said back there," Mona says, "We're all in this. All five, or zero."

"Girl, you think I ever had friends?" Karai laughs, "Don't sweat it. If I wasn't the source of all this, I would have probably already been kicked out."

"Thanks guys. That really means a lot to me," Shini smiles.

Finally, Mona reverses from the garage and into the alley. April presses the clicker to close the garage, and then off they go.

"Next stop – Albany New York," Mona says as the maps activates, and onto the midnight freeway they go.


	4. Albany, NY

_**A/N: This came out a lot longer than I thought it would, but I suppose it's an important bridge chapter. For those of you who are here for a lighter approach – this one's for you. For others, I promise that this is still a Sarr story – it will not escape my traditional dark tone later on**_ __

There's always a time of the morning which could easily blend into a time of the night, still very orange and blurry and set down with a sort of buzz in the atmosphere. If you recognize this time of day, you probably either have skipped a night's sleep or tragically have been woken up _way_ too early. It's that time that lasts around 4 to 6 AM, where the sun does not tend to rise so gracefully; or at least it's seen that way, because any way around sleep deprivation is someone in the picture.

For Mona, that moment was now – and she was the only one to experience it. In her present world, at least.

The other four girls had been sleeping for a while, and although in an urgent situation something told her not to wake them yet, even though they had arrived in Albany two hours ago. She had attempted to fall asleep herself, but her instincts made her worry that letting her guard down would put them in danger and the worry rotting out her stomach from the situation and the presence of Newt eradicated any of her abilities to rest.

Karai, on the other hand, slept like a baby, un-fazed by what she was brought into. She sat very stiffly, and unless you knew her and knew that she isn't quiet for that long you wouldn't even be able to tell that she was asleep. April and Renet's expressions were awfully disturbed, and she was surprised they were able to find rest as well. Shini seemed to be sleeping perfectly normally, but, well, there was no reason for her not to.

Maybe putting rest as an inferior priority in times of stress was just a Mona thing.

Despite the anxiety turmoil which kept her eyes peeled, she knew that if she were to need to help Raphael, or anyone for that matter, in the next day without sleep, her performance would be faltered. Such incentive finally brought her to let her eyes drift close, and her head hung slightly to the side. The darkness was like a blanket, and she'd never have thought that sleeping in a van on the hill by the freeway exit at 4 in the morning would be so relaxing. Perhaps, it was just the quiet of the city – a city not necessarily plagued with crime. Or, until now that is.

Seemingly five minutes after falling into a slumber, she feels a foot kick at her heel.

"My bad," Karai yawns, and Mona opens one eye to see her stretching in her seat. "Looks like it's morning, bitches."

Mona groans in frustration and shuts her eyes, grateful that the other four were still asleep. "Good, now you can watch the car. Goodnight."

Karai darts her eyes in annoyance, disliking the halt from continuing with the mission. At least when she was sleeping, the driving was still proceeding. Since she had not yet gained the authority to drive, this rest stop would proceed nowhere.

"Need my alone time anyways," she says, bringing her legs up to the seat and burrowing her face in her knees. The silence has returned, and it didn't take 60 minutes for Mona to fall asleep. She didn't bother looking at the time, but judging by the sky it was much too early for the average person to function. Although it must be earlier than her average waking hour, it was always better to rise earlier than to sleep in.

" _What's this?"_

 _His voice was thunder without the lightning, and she found it humorous how a child was supposed to consider a parent's voice comforting. Even though deep in the need for slumber, her small heart was beating fast enough to tell her to snap out of it. However, there's only so much a ten-year-old could handle._

" _I need sleep father," her voice says, tiny and cracked. "I-I can't stay awake."_

 _There is silence for a second and she assumes that he allowed her rest, so a small smile flashed on her face and she held the sheet closer to her face for warmth. However, her comfort was soon revoked when she felt a tight grip on her wrists, her body thrown in the air and the bang that her ribs felt when they hit the wooden floor._

" _Are you more alert now, child?"_

" _Father please," she crawls against the wall and tugs her knees, her voice starting to buck and tears growing in her eyes. "We only got done training an hour ago, I need to sleep. It hurts not to sleep."_

" _Pain is no excuse for weakness!" he shouts, grabbing her hair and holding her up against the wall. "Would you like a greater pain to distract you, Karai? Do not shame me!"_

" _N-No," she cried, "I'm up okay? I don't need any sleep."_

Karai shuddered at the memory and tucked her knees closer, a habit for when she was afraid that she had never dropped. Now that she was free, she figured, she may be able to train herself into sleeping normally again.

There was no Saki here, and no Foot soldiers either. She may be lacking a sheet, but she had the quiet and she had safety, she thinks.

Nothing is safe, she thinks. Safe enough though, she thinks.

With that, she allows her eyes to close and decides that just this one time, a little sleeping in wouldn't hurt her.

Four hours later, she woke up again – but this time it was different.

The other girls were already awake, although sitting silently and gazing at the New York morning sky. Shini was sitting a little further into the back corner of the van, holding some kind of rock to her forehead, and April had re-gifted the left over gummy bears back to Renet. Mona was only half awake, but still had her eyes half opened.

"Morning again, bitches," Karai yawns, her cheeks warm with satisfaction. She doesn't remember a time where she was able to sleep all the way until 8 AM.

"I thought you woke up hours ago," Mona says, her voice dull and exhausted.

"Thought I'd need a little more beauty sleep. By the looks of it, you need it too, girl," Karai observes Mona's body language, and it's hard to decide whether she looks like an insomniac or a crack addict. "I guess, there's nothing wrong with an occasional sleeping in."

"Now isn't the occasion," Mona comments, shaking her head and pushing her hair back off of her forehead. "We're in Albany now, so the next step is to plan how today is going to go down."

"Is it possible that we can get some breakfast first? I can't think on an empty stomach," Renet complains.

"On what budget? Does anyone got any money?" Karai asks the group.

"I have 8 dollars and 51 cents," Renet answers, "I had ten for the arcade, but then I spent 1.49 on gummy bears because I spend on food impulsively when I'm feeling any kind of strong emotion-

"I have ten as well. Change from my twenty, I bought some snacks from the liquor for the kickback last night but those snacks sort of got abandoned," Mona interrupts.

"I have fifteen, but I'm not about to waste it all. I had it to feed myself for a week's worth, so Leo was either bringing me whatever he ate or I was finding a local street food truck," Karai says.

"I don't have any money. I have a habit to spend it as soon as I get it," Shini says.

"I came intending to annoy Donnie until he followed me back to my place. I have nothing on me," April comments.

"I guess we can afford some McDonalds or something, if no one is greedy. We have to be careful spending money, capitals tend to be a bit more expensive to live in. Maybe there, we can put something together," Mona suggests.

"I'm assuming it's socially acceptable to show up to fast food places looking like a whole clan of walk of shames? Let's be honest, we all look like recycled garbage," Karai observes, noting the smeared makeup, sweaty clothes and knotty hair.

"Anything is socially acceptable at McDonalds," April answers.

"Let's get on with it then," Mona says, leaning back towards the wheel and turning on the van. "Fasten your seatbelts."

"Oh, was I supposed to put one on before?" Karai asks, but the only response she gets is the wind hitting her jaw from the now open window sill as Mona goes on a hunt.

"There's always a McDonalds on every other street, especially in big cities. It shouldn't be that hard to find," Mona mutters, grateful that New York isn't full of very many morning people.

"I'm guessing there's one right there?" Renet points to a large M a showing from a few blocks down.

"You must have been the number one champion at I-Spy in first grade," April laughs, and to the McDonalds they go.

"What exactly do they serve at these places? I heard it was pink slime, and one video even claimed it was made of the parts from aborted babies," Karai says, her eyes gazing at the sign.

"Dude, you have never been to McDonalds before either? What was your childhood, woman?!" Renet exasperates, her hands on Karai's shoulders.

"Crippling depression and abandonment," Karai answers, laughing ironically. "So, were the conspiracies true in that case?"

"It's just chicken nuggets and big macs and stuff like that," April answers, the first to open the car door. The rest follow her and take a stretch, satisfied with feeling the ground under their feet.

"We won't be here too long," Mona confirms, "Just to get some breakfast and draft a plan."

"We can all get an egg mc-muffin, a hash brown, and a juice. Sound good?" April asks the group. They all nod, finding a secluded table in the back to seat at.

"We'll come back at another time," Renet nudges to Karai, "You haven't lived until you've tried their French fries."

"I'm sure you're right," Karai smiles, and she had to admit that this one was a little too pure to be involved in all this.

"Hey, look," Shini says, pointing to the wheel sitting on the counter. "If we do their little survey we can spin the wheel and get free food!"

"We don't have our phones, remember?" Mona replies.

"Karai does," Shini defends.

"I'm actually tempted to do it for kicks. Saki someone succeeds in hacking me and attempts to track my schemes only to find a receipt from a McDonalds survey," Karai laughs.

"Okay," April says, arriving with the food. "We'll have to find a frat party to get to tonight."

"We sure as hell ain't going like this," Karai laughs. "They're not about to give admission to trailer trash. We'll need some changes of clothes for all of this, considering without maintenance we will get crustier by the day. We need to clean up our whole act before showing up anywhere."

"How do you expect us to buy new clothes? We barely scrapped up enough money to get fast food breakfast," Mona refutes.

"That's simple, we'll have to obtain new money, now there is many ways to go about it-

"We're going to get jobs and quit them in the same day?" asks Renet.

"No, that's impossible."

"We aren't robbing anyone Karai," Mona says.

"Now, when did I say that?"

"Magic doesn't make money, or I would try to summon it," Shini adds.

"Thanks for the tale."

"We're going to have to pull a scam, aren't we?"

The girls stop their chats and turn to April, who receives a smirk from Karai.

"Well, let's not call it scamming. We'll call it borrowing from good Samaritans for a good cause. They just won't know _which_ good cause they're supporting."

"How could we pull that off?" asks Shini.

"We're going to have to use redhead and blondie. They look much more like a baby miss America than the rest of us do. Look up whatever sob story cause would be popular in this area and they'll pretend to be fundraising for it. I guarantee it'll collect fast cash that'll last us a little," Karai plans.

"That's actually a really good idea," Shini says, setting down her half-eaten hash brown. "You guys know how to act emotional, right?"

"Well, I took theatre class freshman year," Renet says.

"You're going to exploit them for money?" Mona asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not talking about prostitution!" Karai responds, "Or even some kind of Spring Breakers bank robbery, you know if we had a James Franco or something. I'm talking some innocent little fundraiser that will win the hearts of the Albany yuppies."

"We have a variety of issues we could work with – there's LGBT, woman's rights, homelessness, animal abuse," Shini lists.

"Hell, I almost forgot people care about that stuff," Karai smirks. "Maybe you guys could kiss each other and ask for funds to legalize gay marriage."

"That's already legalized," April points out.

"I'm saving my first kiss for a special time," Renet shudders.

"How about funds to get the poor middle-class grade A student an abortion?"

"Too many Christians around here," Mona says.

"My dog got hit by a car so he needs money to go to the vet?"

"We don't even have a dog."

"Instead of begging, why don't you pretend you're for a cause? If you know how to tell a good story, they're likely to donate," Shini comments.

"That's good. What causes do these people like?" Karai questions.

"Smarter, we can turn words around so that it's not lying for what we need it for, but in a way that would make them _want_ to help. You get me?" Mona suggests.

"Ah, Mona Lisa gets a little spicier!" Karai applauds, "Care to elaborate?"

"Make it about something about kidnapped children. Technically, the boys are minors and they are kidnapped so we aren't lying. You'll just have to add a little exaggeration. Like…

"Like they're starving children in third world countries fighting to escape sex trafficking," Karai finishes with a confident smile.

"Well, that's a little more than a little exaggeration," April turns to Mona.

"You'll want to pull the heartstrings if you want to get the cash. The middle class just don't know how to say no when it comes to the poor from countries other than their own. Let's get to a printer place and unsuspiciously print a picture of some faux organization so we can take some buckets from the back of a hardware store and tape on the pictures to prove we're legit. We'll take it and stand in front of a crowded place where you two will work your magic as the three of us observe. Simple solution," Karai says, swallowing her last piece of muffin.

"And if we're not convincing enough?" April asks.

"Oh honey, trust me on this. I would do it myself, but Shini and I look like the type of people behind a scam. I guess Mona does too, if you're counting the racial profilers. You two are the image of innocence and kind doing, girl scouts even. As long as you got a script, you got the check."

"She's right," Shini says, "It's how I get my average living."

"Okay, fine. Someone look up a place where the rich people hang out around her," April says.

"I'm on it, but what are we going to put the money in?" Karai wonders, her eyes fixed on her phone.

"Here, we'll just use my hat," Shini says, pulling her large witch-like hat out of the trunk. "It should be big enough to fit things."

"Karai, look up a nearby print place. We'll tape one on the hat and print a fake license to show to people. They're more likely to donate if they see it's legit. Or, at least _think_ it's legit," Mona advises.

"I like your new way of thinking," Karai smirks, putting her phone in the center for everyone to see. "Okay, so I found an allegedly rich community about 26 minutes away from here called Clifton Park. They also have a Clifton Park shopping center, where all those rich fucks must be hanging out on a Saturday morning after yoga class. We'll head there and see if we can get any results."

"Sounds good, but does anyone else know how to drive?" Mona asks, her eyes slightly bloodshot.

"I do, if you guys give me some trust. What am I gonna do, go drive off a cliff or something? I don't hate myself _that_ much," Karai protests.

"Sure, go ahead. I think you two are the only ones who can drive, so might as well come up with an alternation plan now," April decides.

"Just when one of us gets exhausted, I suppose. Let's hit this place up now, deal?" Mona asks.

"Deal!" Renet chimes, throwing her arm into the center. The other girls stare at her in confusion.

"You okay?" Shini asks.

"I thought it was a team thing. Aren't teams supposed to do that thing?" she replies.

"We are a team for now," April says, putting her hand over Renet's.

"Only because blondie gave me my first candy yesterday," Karai's face warms, joining in.

"Deal," Mona and Shini say, and the girls break up and head towards the car.

"Does this thing have a radio or anything?" Renet asks, jumping into the backseat. Car rides without any tunes are totally a drag."

"I think it does, I just haven't used in it years," April says, examining the front of the car. "Oh, I suppose it does! I can't make any promises about antenna reception or stereo quality though."

Karai pops the key into the ignition while April presses some sound system buttons, and then a booming sound crashes amongst them. An amplification of mariachi music.

"How the hell did this get on here?" April shouts above the sound, moving quickly to fix the volume settings.

Karai starts to laugh, holding her upper ribcage as she chuckles. "Didn't know O'Neil was the type to jam to some good mariachi. I think that's what it's called."

April starts to laugh as well, and progressively all five of them are chuckling, not even changing the radio station.

"Well, at least we know the stereo quality works," Shini comments.

"Okay, enough of that," Karai says, switching the station to some indie that plays alternative rock. "Next stop, Clifton Park."

All five girls non-vocally agreed that car rides were much more tolerable, even enjoyable, with the radio on. The wordless vibes were quite satisfactory, relaxing them until they reach a sign that welcomed them into Clifton Park.

"These houses are ridiculous," Mona critiques, rolling her eyes as they passed through residency. "How much you wanna bet not more than six people live in them, too. Why would someone need that much extra space? Is that really necessary? Not to sound bitter, but rich people get on my nerves sometimes."

"I wish I could have that extra space," Renet gazes, her brown eyes following each house. "Imagine all the cool rooms you could make! A video game room, a mini arcade, a mini movie theatre with a curtain and a screen and a popcorn machine, a room full of trampolines!"

"Truly paradise," Karai notes sarcastically. Followed by Renet replying "I know right!" unsarcastically.

"We're heading to some place called Minuteman Press. Apparently, they're a printing shop. Can't be too much, right? We'll only need to print four things. A paper for the hat, two papers to pin on reddy and blondie, and a 'license'," Karai continues.

"Okay, are all of us going?" Mona asks.

"Might as well. If we don't all got the facts of the little project going on here, the possibility of a fuck up increases," Karai answers as she pulls out the key and exits the car. The other four follow her and into the shop they go. After getting stationed to a computer, they decide how this will go down.

"I was a girl scout when I was a kid, so I know how these fundraiser organizations work. We can call ourselves 'The Fight for Freedom', slogan 'Every donation can bring a child home.' Under that, we can write a paragraph about children who are kidnapped and forced into sex trafficking," April says, picking a layout design and beginning to type.

"What about a logo?" Shini inquires.

"We'll just rip off google images, I'm sure these people aren't going to look into it that deep. Give me one second," April continues, opening a browser and typing "children sold into sex trafficking – very sad" into the search bar. "This one's perfect!"

" _Children don't wake up one day and decide to be a prostitute. They're forced into it."_

"You guys don't feel the slightest bit guilty to exploit them like this?" Mona asks, leaning onto the counter.

"These kids have real organizations helping them too, and this crying kid in the picture is either a paid model or a child who's already been rescued. Obviously, they wouldn't find her just for the picture, unless they're as corrupt as PETA is. I'm sure she won't mind it if we use her for a second here," Karai says, watching as April pastes the photo onto the word document and types their name and slogan under the photo.

"I'll put the three onto one page and crack down the size so we can put them on, and I'll put the organization info on a separate sheet," April says, her fingers dancing on the keyboard and filing to print within 45 seconds. "Guess that computer class junior year pulled through."

"Sex trafficking, huh?" the clerk says as he pulls the papers out of the printer, fixing his glasses accordingly.

"It's for a school project. We're going to raise awareness about the tragedy behind sex trafficking of children, and how it can no longer be pushed away to the back of the bookshelves," Shini replies, holding her hand over her heart.

"School project? Isn't it summer?" he asks, accepting the change.

"Those non-tech kids like us have a thing called summer school, Sheldon. Well, thanks for the printing!" Karai says, skipping her way towards the door. "Oh, and don't forget to spread the awareness about these tragic acts occurring today! Stay woke!"

"We forgot to ask for tape," Mona states.

"Oh, yeah," Karai remembers, kicking the door back open and sticking her head through the door. "Hey, can I borrow a few pieces of tape?"

She returns with a small piece of tape on each finger, grabbing Shini's hat and calling for April and Renet to come forward. She tapes one of the logos onto the hat, and the other two on their shirts.

"There, all done," she says, skipping towards the car. "You guys ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," April replies, all of them returning to their unofficially assigned seats.

Soon enough, they arrive at the shopping center, Karai shadily parking into a corner behind a bush.

"You guys, go to that fountain over there. It seems to be the center of this place. Every time someone passes, go give them the sob story and ask for a donation, and to speed up time stand on two different sides to get more people. Me, Mona and Shini will be observing from afar, but we can't get too close or we'll look sketch," Karai instructs.

"Got it," April says, her and Renet getting out of opposite doors. "How long are we doing this for?"

"Until you count 500 bucks, it shouldn't take too long in this area. We'll each need like two spare outfits and a party outfit, and costs tend to add up. When you got the money, come back to the car and we'll transfer it to that hand bag down there, and into the mall we go," Mona advises. Renet and April nod and then zip towards the center.

"God, I can't believe I'm helping with this," Mona says, resting her hand over her sinuses.

"You want your boy toy alive, don't you?" Karai asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly the reason," Mona says, and the three keep their gaze focused on the two.

"There's our first target," April points out, seeing two blonde girls walking towards them.

"Uggs in June?" Renet giggles. "I guess that means they have money."

"Excuse me!" April says, running towards them with the hat in hand while Renet holds up the license. The two girls examine them with a disgusted expression, but likewise they stop.

"God bless you for stopping to listen," April continues, "We're here with the organization Fight for Freedom, and we're currently accepting collection for international children who have been ripped from their homes and forced into a life of sex trafficking, and their lives are in danger. Would you find it in your heart to make a donation today?"

"Sex children? Do you mean like when I was 13 and I had an abortion?" one of the girls asks.

"No, we are talking about kidnapped children whose lives are in danger," Renet repeats.

"Children are gross," the other one says, and the girls continue walking towards the mall.

"I forgot that rich people are the most selfish people in this world," April whispers over her shoulder.

"Hey, wait!" Renet shouts, and the women stop again.

"You guys are vegans, right?" she asks, noticing their path to what looks like a vegan café.

"Yeah, what about it?' one replies in an annoyed valley girl accent.

"That means you value the lives of all living things. How can you say that when you don't care about the lives of innocent victimized children?" she says defensively.

"Ugh, I guess you're right," one rolls her eyes. "Here' forty bucks, I guess."

"Thank you!" April smiles, the girls hurrying to their destination and fast as they can.

"Hey, you're good at this," April tells Renet as they return back to their spot.

"I took a theatre class once," Renet continues, "And I've spent my life with a strict dad."

The process occurs, approaching each person with a calamitous tale and pathos rhetoric as more and more money appears in the hat. 40 minutes later, April decides to count.

"Hey, look at this!" April calls, placing back the last dollar bill. "We've officially collected 501."

"Karai's gonna be so proud!" Renet smiles, linking arms with April and hurrying back to the van.

"At least this thing has an air conditioner," Shini moans, as the other two finally returned.

"So?" Karai asks, grabbing the hat and smiling at the inside.

"We collected 501," April smiles, and the other three look up at them cheerfully.

"Hey, that's pretty good!" Karai applauds, "Guess you guys are better con artists than we thought."

"Good job girls, super impressed. Let's get inside the mall, shall we?" Mona asks, and the others agree.

"Won't it look suspicious if we were just standing outside with a charity and now we're shopping inside the mall?" April wonders.

"There's never harm from multi-tasking," Mona shrugs. "Let's get going."

Five girls walk through the glass doors into a two-story mall, as five girls may do when they're not involved in a highly critical situation.

"Wow," Renet says, her eyes surfing the higher story in awe. "This mall is way cooler than the ones back home!"

"I was never a mall kind of person," Mona observes, glancing at the map. "I kind of just got my clothes at the swap meet or something."

"I think we should get our second outfit from H&M," April says, "I saw a black jumper there once, adorable!"

"I think sweaters are part of the fall collection, but you'd totally rock a yellow sundress!" Renet chimes. "Yellow is definitely your color."

"I get the feeling we aren't going to agree on clothing shops," Karai says, observing all of their current outfits. "Let's make a list and we'll stop at each one. Lastly, we'll need our frat party outfits – where we will all be going to the same place. Deal?"

"Ooh, free samples!"

Both Shini and Renet are at Green Crush in a second, quickly getting a cup of the fruit juice.

"Hmm, we should invest in a cup of this," Shini smiles, savoring the last drops of the sample.

"We just ate at McDonalds," Mona sighs. "Do we really have the resources to be buying more food?"

"I'm sure spending like 5 dollars wouldn't hurt," says April, also trying a sip of sample.

"What about gas?" Mona asks.

"Five dollars doesn't get you a gallon."

"Fine, why not," Karai says, pulling out some of the money and standing in line. "It's the little things in life," she smiles towards Renet.

"Blueberry milk!" Shini suggests, a new sense of innocent lighting in her eyes.

"Sure," Karai says, turning to order.

Renet, Shini and April receive the cup in glee, not knowing that Karai is grinning in a rare touch of contentment and Mona is wishing that she had gotten her own cup.

"I'm cool with H&M. I can go with April," Renet says.

"We'll all go, it's easier that way. What other stops are we going to make?" Mona asks.

"I think I'm going to go for Hot Topic. Karai?" Shini adds.

"Spencers is my kind of place," she smirks. "Mona, just look around until you find something."

"I won't be too picky, as long as it gets the job done," she affirms.

"You know, I think I'll buy a blouse this time," April smiles, seeing a small yellow blouse which showed her shoulders, but still had sleeves. "I'll get it and some jeans."

"I think these are nice," Mona says, observing the variety of blouses. "I think I'll browse for a minute more."

"Uh, boring. We're going to Spencers while you girlies play around," Karai suggests.

"Renet, you should come with," Shini smirks.

"To Spencers? Don't really think that's her type of store," April defends.

"Why not? I'll go see what they have, and I'll be right back!" Renet smiles, following the other two out of the store.

"Now that's more like it," Karai says, approaching the brick walled store.

"Hmm, I think a t-shirt would be fitting. Have you ever considered a nose piercing?" Shini says, her fingers under Renet's chin as she examines her.

"I've always been afraid of needles," she cringes.

"How about a tank top? You've got cute shoulders. Even skinny girls have something to show off," Karai suggests.

"Yeah, that sounds cool," Renet agrees, "Do they have any designs in mind?"

"Here you go," Karai grabs her wrist slightly and leads her. "I'll be on the other side. No need for my man shoulders to be on display."

"I'll help you out," Shini claps, dragging Renet closer to the rack. "Here, I will hold them up and you give me the yes or no."

 _Stay Strong_

"Too emo," Renet quirks her head.

"I would've loved it in middle school," Shini comments, reaching for another on the rack.

 _Supreme Bitch in Charge_

"Well, I wouldn't say that-

 _Whiskey Made Me Do It_

"I've never even had whiskey."

 _The Amazing Spiderman_

"Hey, I love Spiderman!"

Renet cheerfully pulls the tank to her chest, smiling at the logo. "When Mikey and I first met, the group of people we would sit with at lunch just spent every day reading comics. Don't tell Mikey, but Marvel was always my favorite."

"Winner, winner!" Shini applauds, throwing a black skirt to Renet as well. "I think this would make your legs look good. They're too long to not show off."

"Thanks," Renet responds a tad awkwardly, wandering to search for Karai and see what she was up to.

"Oh, kid," Shini calls out, and Renet turns back to her. "You might not want to travel too far to the right."

Renet decides to follow this advice, only to bump back into Karai who was blowing a bubblegum with her bright red lips. "Aye Renet, have you ever seen a dildo?"

"Nothing is sacred," Shini shakes her head, secretly in amusement, walking out to search for a dress at Hot Topic.

"Never had such a desire," Renet answers awkwardly, cringing in her place.

"I can't believe people use these things. Like is it really necessary?" Karai wonders with a monotone voice, "Have you people ever learned that porn is a lie?"

"I'm sure it is," Renet bites her lips and gazes towards the ground, blush on her cheeks.

"Look at this, they have little veins on them! Wow, this thing is purple but must be real because it has veins!" Karai chuckles, putting the box back on the rack while she receives strange looks from fellow customers.

"Wait, are they supposed to have veins on them?" Renet sticks her tongue out, "Ugh, that's gross!"

"Oh, I forgot," Karai straightens her lip, leading Renet towards the cash register. "I forget you're an extra virgin. Pretend that never happened."

"Can do," she smiles, both of them putting their new clothes on the counter towards the clerk.

"You aren't getting some new bottoms?" Renet asks Karai, seeing as she only buys a black t-shi9rt with thick white font which says 'fuck off'.

"Eh, I've worn the same jeans for three weeks and no one has noticed. No need to waste money," she says, pulling the clothes into the plastic bag. "With that skirt, though, that strategy isn't gonna work the same."

"Hey, where did Shini go?" Renet asks as they leave the store.

"Probably back in her emo hole, I assume. You like these shades on me?" Karai asks, sliding down her black sun glasses over her eyes.

"Fabulous," Renet smiles, and they wat for April and Mona to meet them.

"Mona finally found the cutest outfit!" they suddenly hear April spring out, followed by a blushing Mona.

"Oh gee, it's just a shirt," she says.

"It looks like leather, but it's really not, and it has crisscrosses on the chest. I think it looks great-

"Guys, we have to go now," Shini says, catching up with seemingly nothing in her hands.

"Why? Did you even shop-

"Well, I stole a dress and put it in my hat, security found me and another person notices the false logo from earlier. They're kind of on their way."

They all turn towards the right hall where Shini came from, and four mall security cops are charging towards them at a quick pace.

"Book it!" Karai shouts, instantly flying across the mall as if she were a dove floating over water. It was comical how graceful she was even in, or especially in, what was known as a critical situation.

"You've got to be kidding me," Mona curses under her breath, also zipping forward with her eye focusing to make sure that the others were behind her.

"Thought you guys couldn't run," Shini comments to April and Renet who were maintaining the same pace as she was while Mona caught up with Karai.

"Everyone can run when they really have to!" April says, her face flushed with panic as they finally emerge onto the parking complex and towards the van.

"GO!" Karai shouts, her head popping out of the car door, the ignition already on and Mona running closer towards them to help usher them quickly into the vehicle. Once Renet finally got at least three fourths of her body in the car, Karai hits the accelerator and they fly through the parking lot, the security guards taken aback by the wild vehicle.

"Suck my fuck, sweaties!" she shouts out the window, continuing to speed until it was safe to chill. "Wow, and we didn't even get to get the cocktail dresses."

"Why would you do that?!" Mona exclaims, turning back towards Shini. "We already had the money Shini! Are you insane?"

"I didn't think that was news," April comments, only to get a glare from Mona in return.

"I've never actually purchased something before, happens when you're on your own ever since you came to America," Shini defends, seeming to have no reaction to the event. "Hot Topic dresses are splendid, but not affordable! Now, we'll have some money for gas."

"You don't ever do that again, okay?" Mona sighs, pressing her fingers against her temple. "Jesus Christ."

"Well, anyways, what are we going to do for the frat party? Wear these?" April interrupts, holding up the new purchases – or, some which were purchases.

"A girl can look sexy in anything, with the right body and the right cosmetics," Shini smiles, "We'll look popping for sure. I can just give everyone the night look make-up and these outfits will do."

"Where are we going to get make-up from? What are we going to do now, rob a Sephora?" Mona growls.

"Have you guys seen my face?" Shini asks, referring to her major contour which has lasted throughout the night. "I wouldn't be caught dead with a bare face. I have a whole case worth in my purse?"

"Wait, you brought a purse?" April asks.

"You girls aren't very observant," she giggles, "Luckily for you, I took some time and consideration to go check out Mac when I had free time in the mall and got plenty more to satisfy all of our looks."

"Awe, thanks!" Renet exclaims, causing April and Mona to facepalm.

"You know, I'm actually starting to like you guys," Karai says, "In the way that you all are starting to amuse me."

"I'm flattered," April replies sarcastically, and Mona gestures for the phone and gazes up at Karai for permission.

"Go ahead, the pass code is dickanardo. I have nothing to hide," Karai smiles, pushing the phone onto Mona's thigh.

"Very clever," April comments, leaning over and placing her chin over Mona's shoulder to view the device. "Are you looking for a party?"

"I was, I just don't know where exactly you're supposed to look," she replies, annoyed at her lack of knowledge.

"Well first off, check what University is in Albany. I doubt they'd send us to a high school party," Karai chimes in.

"SUNY. University at Albany," Mona reads.

"Here, I'll check Twitter real fast and see what's up," April says, hitting up the website and typing the university name. 

_Y'all, hit up Alpha Chi Ro to get lit tonight! Doors open at 8, guys 3$ and chicks free_

"Bingo," April replies.

"Okay, we find some empty apartment building to raid, kick it there and get our makeup done so we can hit that joint up tonight," Karai says, skidding to the other side of the road.

"What? We're breaking into property now?" Mona asks, seeming as if she would have a heart attack.

"I'm sure that's not our biggest concern right now, Mona Lisa. It'll only be a few hours," Karai defends.

"She's right actually," says April, looking up in determination. "The important thing is that tonight, we'll finally figure out what the hell we're doing."


	5. A Man With Gold Teeth

"Why couldn't we have just rented a motel like normal people?"

"Where's the fun with being normal?" Shini comments, pushing her silky black hair over her shoulder. She decides not to comment on Mona's constant pessimism.

"We've went over this, Tiffany," Karai rolls her eyes, "That is emergency money, and when we have options an emergency instantly loses its status. Besides, we probably spent more than 100 at the mall already."

"I mean, we aren't breaking into anyone's house, or anything like that," April defends. "An empty apartment, right?"

"Right," Karai answers, her mischievous eyes scanning her surroundings. "And to my left, our shining castle awaits us."

They turn to see a large, yellow apartment complex with a large sign advertising empty suites.

"Okay, let's do this quick," Mona says, parking the car and turning to grab the bags of clothes.

"Baby, put on heart shaped sunglasses cause' we're gonna take a ride!" Renet sings, dancing and twirling her braids.

"Okay children, we've got to keep quiet. It's not like they'd be cool with us just kicking it there, so they're not going to notice. I'll walk in and discover which suite is empty, and then we'll go in through the back."

"What if it's second story?" April asks, raising her chin to observe the height.

"You never learned to climb?" Karai asks, snaking away into the building.

"God, she walks so charismatically," Renet says to Shini, "I wish I could be like her."

"Don't we all?" Shini replies, watching the way her hips danced in admiration. She captured the whole world without ever even trying. Or, so they thought.

"Not all of us," Mona rolls her eyes, gesturing for them to follow her into the tiny alleyway.

"Got it," Karai returns, hurrying towards the rest of the group. "It's that one, in the furthest corner."

Their eyes surfed to the corner of the place, which stood above the brick wall and a showering tree.

"God, and I hated rock climbing as a kid!" April cringes.

"Simple. We jump up and grab the top of the wall and then pull ourselves up. Walk along the wall, and then grab onto the tree branches and swing in feet first. I'll go first so I can open the thing," Karai explains.

"That's a little extreme," Renet trembles. "What happens if we fall and break our necks? Or fall over the wall and get mauled by a rabid dog? Or maybe-

"Simple solution," Karai replies, her short body attaching to the wall and pulling herself up as if it was nothing. "Just don't fall."

Shini shrugs and pulls herself up, flipping her legs up and focusing on her footsteps. "I have a little skill on balance and stealth. How'd you think I got in America in the first place?"

"I'm not even going to ask what that means," Mona says, placing her fingers on the wall and turning to Renet and April. "You guys going to be okay?"

"We…may need a little help?" Renet halfs a smile.

"Sure," Mona says, turning to pull herself up. "I'll have to do you one at a time. Grab my arms and I'll pull you up. I'll help you stand, but you've got to trust me. I'll be walking right behind you and make sure you don't fall."

"And what about the tree?" April asks nervously.

"Well, same thing," Mona sighs sympathetically. "We'll just have to hope for the best."

"Okay, I'll go first," Renet volunteers, reaching her arms out for Mona. "I'm sorry that I'm tall and I have big boobs, it might make things a little hard for you – ah!"

Unexpectedly, Mona had yanked her up with no struggle, moving her grip to her bust so that she could stand her up.

"I've lifted twice your weight in my workouts before. I'm sure I'll be fine," Mona confirms. "Just walk one foot in front of the other, and don't lean."

"Gotcha," Renet smiles in determination, inspired to catch up the others who were already in the tree. Karai was swinging herself around, finally getting her feet on both sides of the lock and twisting it off.

"I'll be right back," she says, swinging herself into a semi-circle and using her body strength to open the glass window. She turns back and swings back her body, kicking down the screen and landing in the apartment.

"Whoa," Renet's eyes brighten, "You are SO badass!"

"Eh, 18 years of non-stop training ain't for nothing," she smirks. "Need any help, Blaire?"

"I got it," Shini says, ignoring the comment and dragging herself as far on the branch as she could before swinging into the apartment as well.

"C'mon slow pokes, we don't have all day!" Karai pops her head out the window, seeing that Renet was approaching the tree with Mona and April far behind on the wall.

"Umm, I was always a little bad at monkey bars when I was little," Renet smiles awkwardly, holding onto the first branch with obvious fear to proceed.

"C'mon Blondie, don't wimp out on me!" Karai calls out, attempting to be reassuring. "The branch actually isn't that far from the window. Go as far as you can, and then swing with your legs first. We'll try to catch you."

"Okay, I guess I could do that," she whimpers, grabbing onto the branch for dear life as she swung.

"See, now you've got it!" Shini claps, and Renet gains a smile of encouragement. She starts to go a little faster, her confidence decreasing as she begins to hear a creek.

"C'mon, you got this! I got ya," Karai smiles, and Renet kicks her out and swings. Karai pops out of the window and grabs her hips, using her strength to pull her inside.

"Whoa, I made it," Renet says, opening her eyes and seeing the carpet. "I made it!"

Meanwhile, April and Mona had also made it to the tree.

"I'll be behind you," Mona assures, and Shini leans from the window with her arms out.

"Okay," April tells herself, "Okay."

She held on for only a second and a half before she jumped towards the window. Mona quickly swung to push her upwards and Shini reached as far as she could to grab her, finally succeeding only after all three of them almost fell to their doom.

"Girl, are you insane?" Shini asks, quirking her head towards April.

"I hate gripping," April pouts, "It's like my fingers are ripping open with calluses."

Mona quickly lands inside the apartment, swiping her hand up to push a curl of her hair back away from her forehead. "Let me fix this screen before someone falls and dies for real."

"Ee! I am so excited to give you guys makeovers!" Shini cheers, reaching for the makeup bag and searching through it thoroughly. "April, I have always dreamed of giving you a glo up."

"Me?" April questions, Shini sitting her down against the wall as she quickly wiped off her light makeup.

"You have potential, girl. Your eyes really pop out with your hair. Being a ginger is so cool!" Shini replies, grabbing her bag of foundations.

"So is having no soul," April jokes, observing Shini's items.

"Your blouse is more of an Easter look. Although really cute, I don't know if it's frat party material," Shini raises her lip.

"Well, what am I supposed to wear?" April asks, slightly offended.

Shini responds by throwing her own dress over her head, leaving her in a lacey halter and black underwear.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" April looks away.

"Chill, I have a bra under this. You can't prance around without one when you have double D's. I'm trying to show you this halter. You can wear it as a top with those jeans!" Shini replies, carefully removing the halter from herself.

"Wait, are you telling me that you expect me to wear that piece of lingerie as a top? In public?" April gasps.

"Yes. It has spaghetti straps, so it won't make your shoulders look weird. It doesn't show your boobs or anything, and you're cute enough to show a little tummy. Some regular jeans will prevent you from looking like a hooker. Kind of like a naughty and nice image, that's bomb," Shini smirks.

"I don't Donnie would've liked this," she cringes.

"What? Donnie? I didn't know you were dating!" Mona replies.

"No, no – we're not. It's just, um, complicated," she blushes.

"So, like, no strings attached dick?" Karai asks innocently.

"Oh god no," April laughs, "I just don't know what I feel, and I don't think I have to know just yet. But just because I don't know doesn't mean that there isn't something there."

"Of course you don't have to decide yet," Renet smiles, "Girls shouldn't always be so pressured to make decisions to cater boys' feelings."

"And that goes back to your first comment. Whether you have a thing with gappy or not, someone should never be able to control how another person dresses. Ever. That's some wild shit, girls letting themselves be demeaned like that," Karai frowns.

"You're right," April nods. "Fuck it, I'll wear the thing." She grabs the halter from the floor and turns towards the bathroom, while Shini slips into her new dress. It had a rockabilly style, tightly fit and emphasizing her curves. April returned from the bathroom hall, and the other four turned to look at her.

The lacey halter was sexy, but not quite underclothes. Or at least, in the way they looked at it.

"Girl, you are smoking!" Shini cheers, running over to grab April by her shoulders.

"Damn, who would've thought redhead could be so sexy?" Karai comments with a smirk.

"Actually, this thing gives me a whole new kind of confidence," April says, pulling out her ponytail and letting her hair fall back over her shoulder. "I'm ready for this thing."

Shini cheers gleefully and helps April back down, glazing her face with the new foundation.

"This may take a while," Shini turns back to tell them, "Karai, your makeup is always popping. You think you can do one of theirs?"

"Sure thing," Karai smiles, "Who wants to be my first ever client?"

"Ooh, I do!" Renet cheers, sitting eagerly in front of Karai.

"Sure thing Blondie. What about you Mona?"

"I guess just whoever is done first. I'd try myself, but makeup was never really my thing," Mona replies.

"Mona, I saw you every day junior year and you always had that fatass eyeliner, but the wing was perfect. You trying to lie?" Karai responds, starting to apply Renet's foundation.

"No," Mona defends quickly, "I just know I'm not as good as you two. I don't want to be the ugly one in the group."

"Why would you be called Mona Lisa if you weren't naturally and artistically beautiful?" Renet smiles.

"Thank you," Mona smiles humbly, "But I think I'll just hang back and wait my turn."

"Why don't you just do your eyes, and then they can do your contour and lips? You did have really cute eyeliner. It stood out in a good way," April suggests.

"Well, I guess I can do that," she answers. "Only for saving time, of course."

"Here's one of my eyeshadow pallets. Pick anyone you'd like," Shini says, passing it over.

"Hmm," Mona says, looking through them, "This aqua one is really pretty."

"How can a girl get ready without some music?" Renet smiles, grabbing her phone and opening Spotify.

"Damn, this feels sort of like what an actual girls' night might feel like," Shini says.

"Well, that's cause it totally is one," Renet smiles.

"I thought a girls' night is like sleepovers with footie pajamas and baking," Karai says.

"There's a girls' night in, and there's a girls' night out," April replies.

"Logically speaking, we technically are sleeping over together. By definition, right?" Mona comments.

"I haven't had one of those in years, not counting the times I've had to stay at the boys'. I used to have this best friend Irma, but then that snake sold me out for popularity. I don't even know how, she looked like a physical depiction of Martha from Heathers," April says.

"Awe, I'm sorry Veronica," Karai says, "I never really had any girlfriends. Or, friends for that matter. That probably will never change, when you're as messed as I am."

"But I'm your friend, right?" Renet asks.

Karai smiles, a tad taken aback. "I suppose you are, blondie."

"Karai and Shini, how do you guys still have make-up on?" Mona asks.

"We re-applied it this morning, remember? During our little fundraiser," Shini answers.

"Right. I tried to take another nap at that time," she replies.

"Setting spray is a thing too. See?" Karai says, turning to Mona and closing her eyes. "Makeup doesn't even need a touch up."

"Impressive," Mona says, unapologetically adding glitter to her eyeshadow.

"I think she is ready!"

Everyone turns at Shinigami's excited purr, and April stands up to look at them. She had a sharp contour and thick eyeliner with burgundy matte lipstick, and compared to her light appearance from earlier is that she looked very much like a woman.

"Oh damn," Karai comments, "Looking popping, redhead!"

"Am I gonna look like that?" Renet asks curiously. "Something like that," Karai replies.

"We're ready," April says confidently, throwing her arm around Shini's shoulder. "Tonight is gonna be lit."

"We can't forget about our mission," Mona reminds them, "We're going to find a lead on where the boys are."

"We are, but what's the harm in having some fun in the meantime?" Shini quirks her head.

"Got me there," Mona smiles, finishing a deep purple lipstick. "I thought I'd have a little fun with this. Does it match my skin tone?"

"It totally does!" Renet says, admiring Mona. She had glittery aqua eyeshadow and winged eyeliner with red blush and plum lipstick.

"And here's Blondie! With just one final touch," Karai announces, pulling out Renet's braids and letting out her very wavy hair. "Beautiful!"

She had a similar eye look as April, but with a brighter red lipstick.

"Oh my god, I look so good!" she cheers, twirling in the mirror and turning to hug Karai. "Thank you!"

"Ah, oh, okay," Karai attempts to hug back, her arms slightly stiff.

"Before we go we have to take a pic together!" Shini says, reaching for Karai's phone. "Please?"

"Sure," Karai says, pulling out the camera and everyone leans in. "3…2…1!"

The camera clicks, and Karai puts the phone away before having a chance to look at it. "Let's get going."

"Are we going to have to go through all that window chaos again?" April cringes, her eyes widening nervously.

"Nah, we can just go out the door this time," Karai answers, "We aren't worrying about getting caught anymore. Just keep up your pace."

"Besides," Shini raises her head proudly, "There's a lot of advantages that come with being attractive."

They strut out of the door with bags in hand, emerging into the cadet blue sky fallen over by a scarlet gradient. They hold their heads up in pride and determination, ready to grab the night and give it what they got.

"Whoo!" Karai cheers, running to the car and swinging the door open. "Party time, bitches!"

The car is soon running through the Albany streets, and Renet has her head out the window with her hair flying in the wind and Mona is touching up her lipstick and Shini is helping April with her top to make her chest look better, and they start to get the feeling that tonight will be one for the books.

"That must be it," April notes, seeing a mass of Ubers and the aura of drinking and fun.

"Where are we going to park?" Mona asks, "This crowd of cars is ridiculous."

"Easy, we find a house around here and they'll bless us with a parking space," Karai says.

"Won't they get the car towed?" April worries.

"Nah, I'm sure they're used to college kid bullshit. I'm sure we won't have a problem," Karai says, aggressively braking and making a sharp turn into someone's driveway.

"Play nice in there, playboy!" she shouts towards the house window as they evacuate the van and use the window reflections to make sure their hair is on point. "Tow me and the only thing you'll get flashed with is my knife."

The night is young and alive with voices and laughter, eager young adults pouring from outside and into the doors.

"And here I am, barely getting invited to afternoon birthday parties," Renet awes.

"Okay girls, first we have to plan," Karai says, and the five come together in a circle, isolating from the strangers.

"First of all, we're going to have to fit in. If not, things might go wrong and we can't get a closer insider on what we need to find. So, start drinking. I don't care if it isn't your thing, it needs to be done in order to find the guys. One does not go to a party without drinking in the normal world. The last thing we need right now is to be abnormal," Karai tells them.

"Well, we can't all be drinking," Mona defends, "Who's going to drive?"

"Well, that's between you and I, and it sure ain't gonna be me. Guess we have a winner!" Karai responds.

"Gladly," sighs Mona.

"Secondly, do not ever leave a drink unattended. EVER," Shini reminds them.

"Right, and most importantly, keep your eyes peeled for that bitch with gold teeth. If the cards are right, he has our answers," April says.

"And let's not split up! What if one of us finds him, and calling the rest of us over will blow our cover!" Renet reminds them.

"All true," Mona asserts. "If we find him, what are we going to do?"

"I'll befriend him, since I have a way with hypnotizing a guy. I'll use one of my methods to get our information. Stay by me, but have your fun, so we look more low pro. Trust me on everything," Shini tells them.

"Okay, seems legit," Karai says. "Ready?"

"Ready!" They say, and then they find their way into the phenomenon that is known as a college frat party.

"Stay near," Shini whispers over her shoulder, and then they disperse.

"Hey sexy," a voice says, and a new male has emerged from behind April. "You new around here?"

"Well, I guess you should ask yourself that. Never seen you around here. Freshman? How adorable," she answers.

 _Forgive me Donnie, it's for your benefit, I swear!_

Karai raises an eyebrow to Renet, proud of this new side of April she was discovering.

"My friends and I could sure use something to drink," she continues, "Think you could help us out?"

"Sure thing, babe," he swoons, "We're playing a game over there. Care to join?"

He gestures to a group of already drunk frat boys playing beer pong.

"I thought you'd never ask."

April locks arms with Karai and Renet, the three of them following him to the table Karai turns back to wink at Mona and Shini before they disappear.

"Hey guys, I brought some hot chicks with me this time!" he announces, leading the three girls into the spotlight.

"Hey, not totally useless for once Bryan!" another says and he hands April the ball. "First turn, sweetheart. Gonna team up with your girls?"

"Why, can't handle losing? Think if you play a pretty girl you'll win dominance with no effort?" Karai says.

"It may have been part of the plan," Bryan purrs.

"Guess we'll see who gets wasted first? You sure do look like a lightweight to me," Karai beams, lightly cupping the bottom of his chin and turning to throw the ball from April's hand, landing a perfect target without even looking. "Guess it'll take a while to get me drunk, won't it?"

"You're a fucking legend," one of them says, sitting down in awe.

"A legend with an ass too," she smirks, swinging her hips against Renet and sitting down, kicking her legs over the table. "Your turn, blondie."

"Hell yeah," Renet says, her nerves beginning to settle as she intentionally throws the ball at the floor. "Oops…do I get to take a drink now or what?"

"Hmm…will it get you drunk enough to show me your tits?" one of them asks.

She quickly sucks up her nerves, remembering that Mona and Shini will solve this thing before things go too far. Well, she hoped so. Since she hasn't had her first kiss yet and everything.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and find out," she says, grabbing one of the beer cups and chugging it as fast as she could, pretending like it wasn't the nastiest thing she's ever tasted. Her face stumbles back for air and she exhales the strong scent of beer, wobbling setting down the empty cup. "Your turn boys."

"I don't know about you guys, but to me this game seems pretty lame. How long does it take to get you drunk around here? We don't have all night, if there's any other fun to catch," Karai sighs seductively.

"Well what other games would you have in mind, doll face?" another one asks her, and it takes an effort not to scoff at the name.

"Got any hard liquor around here? Or is little boy beer the only thing you've got?" she teases.

"I've got some fireball in the back, but I didn't want to waste it all at once. Why would I throw away all this perfectly good beer?" he defends.

"How about a new game," April says, leaning in. "Let's see who could finish all these beers the fastest – me and my girls or all of you. Once it's all dry, we'll have some shot games to play."

"Sounds lit," he responds, leaning back cockily.

"3…2…1…" Renet whispers, "Hit it!"

She grabs another cup of beer and begins to chug it, followed by Karai and April. The boys startle a bit before jumping in as well, all of them on their way to the drunken state before the liquor was even opened.

"Winners!" Renet yells, followed by a fit of laughter. "Ha! Get out the shot glasses and hit me up!"

Meanwhile, Mona and Shini were dancing in the crowd, annoyed at the distance between them and the rest of the girls. Mona kept her eyes peeled for any sort of gold toothed man, while Shini focused more on matching her hip swings to the pattern of the strobe lights.

"Not fair that they're over there having all the fun," Shini complains to her, reminding Mona to copy her risqué dance moves.

"They're idiots. They'll be too wasted to help with the mission, and will become my liability to take care of," Mona replies.

"Let loose a little, Mona Lisa! When was the last time you went partying?" Shini laughs.

"Maybe at a time where my boyfriend isn't kidnapped," she says, snapping out of an annoyed expression. Girls weren't supposed to look annoyed at frat parties.

"Stranger danger coming your way," she whispers, a highly intoxicated male walking towards them with his dazed eyes fixed on Mona's curves.

"That's just great," she curses, "Can I punch him or something?"

"I'll get rid of the problem, just roll with it alright?" Shini offers.

Mona had learned yesterday not to roll with any of Shini's plans, but this wasn't exactly her area of expertise and Shini obviously had a fair share of experience. "Okay."

"See something you like, baby?" Shini asks him as she twirls her finger in Mona's hair.

"You see something you can ride?" he whispers, his breath near Mona's cheek.

"Sorry sweetheart, we don't do dick," Shini responds, and suddenly grabs Mona's cheeks to kiss her. Mona's eyes shoot open in shock and she is repelled to shove her away, but then she remembers she's supposed to roll with it.

"Oh shit," he says, beckoning his friends, "They're lesbos!"

"Go find some pussy that likes you, darling. You ain't getting anything here," she smiles sympathetically, lightly pushing his chest and turning him away.

As soon as he isn't paying attention, Mona grabs Shini by the wrist and runs as fast as she can to the other side, her face crimson with humility.

"What the fuck was that?" she whispers in exclamation.

"It was me getting rid of a fuckboy for you. Now, where were we with this gold tooth guy?" Shini answers casually.

"We have to walk around if we're going to find him," Mona responds, trying to forget about the previous scene. "But let's not head back to where we were before."

"Do you think…that could be him?" Shini smirks, using her shoulder to gesture towards a man behind them with faded-brown dreadlocks, an oversized black shirt and a gold chain around his neck which matched the color of his shining gold teeth.

"Hell, it's him!" Mona panics. "So, what do we do now? We have to get the others, but then what? Interrogate him in front of everybody?"

"Definitely not. We'll need a plan if we want any answers, and I happen to have a plan in mind," Shini tells her.

"Oh god," Mona sighs under her breath, "Okay, what is it?"

"First, we'll go over and I'll seduce him. You don't seem to be the seductive type, so I'll take care of that myself. You'll go get the others and bring them over, and watch me closely. He'll bring me home and you guys will follow, and I'll preoccupy him in enough time for you to sneak in. Once you get in, we'll attack and force him to tell us everything he knows," she explains.

"Wild, but reliable," Mona nods. "You sure you'll be safe here if I'm not with you?"

"I'm not scared of any man," she smirks confidently, "I can take care of myself. Just keep following me so we don't mess it up, alright?"

"I won't. Break now?" Mona asks, her eyes wandering skeptically.

"Yes. You might want to watch out for perverts on your way, because they seem to be having a little too much fun."

Mona turns and the table where Karai, Renet and April are catches her eyes – April was sitting on a frat guy's lap as she poured more beer cans into his mouth, Renet was standing on top of the table and was throwing shots into her mouth and another frat guy was taking belly shots off Karai's belly button.

"God, these people. I leave them for half an hour," she groans, hurrying over while Shini casually walks towards the suspect.

"Sorry boys," Mona announces as she comes closer, "But these girls are coming with me."

"Hey, Mona!" Renet shouts, stumbling down and throwing an arm over her shoulder. "This stuff is soooo good! You've got to try some!"

"Shini found the guy with the gold teeth," Mona mutters to her, praying that they'd be able to understand the plan.

"Oh no! Where is she? Is she in there?" Renet answers, leaning under the table. "Shini!"

"Where do you think you're going, baby?" the guy asks, leaning over. "The real fun hasn't even begun!"

"I'm so sorry man, I'm so sorry! I think my friend might get kidnapped or something," she burped. "I'll come back, in another lifetime!"

"What do you mean, we're leaving? We just got here Mona!" April laughs, sliding down. "Girls just wanna have fun!"

"Psh, don't listen to her reddy," Karai says, wiping her lip and sitting up. "Want a shot, Mona?"

"Are you even listening to me!" Mona exclaims, leaning in closer. "Shini found the guy we're looking for and we have to hurry up now! We have to follow! Get over here!"

"Shini can handle herself," Karai scoffs, angering Mona.

She didn't want to have to go there, but it looks like she has to.

"You know, Donnie and Leo could die and it'd be all our fault for wasting time here. They could be dead, just like Yoshi, ever think of that? Don't forget why we're here! Move it!"

April gasps, her eyes watering. "Donnie…DONNIE!"

Suddenly she's crying, her back racketing and her hands sliding over her face. "I'm sorry Donnie, I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, why you crying?!" Renet panics, throwing April's arm over her shoulder. "C'mon girlie, it's mission time! Woohoo!"

"What is going on here?" Karai turns to Mona, her eyebrows cross.

"You know what's going on here and I don't have time to explain again. Get over here," Mona says, throwing Karai over her shoulders and holding her up on her back. Surprisingly, Karai doesn't protest.

"We're truly sorry for the inconvenience," Mona turns to the group of boys, guiding the other three girls to a table close to where Shinigami was standing.

As soon as Mona had turned away, Shini began to casually stroll over. She bit her lip in contemplation, trying to decide how she'll come about doing this. As a witch, seduction and manipulation were some of her strong spots, so she was pretty confident that her tricks will be able to reel him in.

She leans on the table next to him, keeping her eyes forward as she takes a sip of beer, holding her body up to display it from its best possible angle. Her gaze leans to his direction, and she is lucky enough to have caught him all alone.

"What is a pimp like you doing out here all alone? Waiting for your girls?"

He slowly turns towards her like a crocodile smelling his prey, his eyes narrowing and his gold teeth cracking out. Shini thought he was repulsive and he smelt like rank weed, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

"Was just sitting here waiting for the right girl to come around. Care for a drink?"

"Got anything more exciting? You look like a fun time," she smirks, leaning closer and pushing her hair over her shoulder.

He swallows his spit, gnawing on his teeth. "What kind of fun are you looking for, sweetheart?"

"Oh, what fun do you think a girl like me wants?" she blinks her eyes.

He slides a hand under her chin, tracing his index finger along her lip. "I have a few surprises back at my hotel, if you'd like to find out."

Mona was leaning over with her ears pried open, annoyed at her babysitting responsibility. April had stopped crying now, her hair being braided by a laughing Renet. Karai was quiet, her head hanging slightly down and her eyes opening and closing out of place.

"Actually, I have any even more fun in store," Shini hums, "Wouldn't five girls be more fun than one?"

"You got some friends who'd want to come and play?" he purrs.

Gross.

Shini swings her legs over the table, sitting next to Mona and Karai. "You can show all of us your fun, if you'd like."

The next second later, they were in a low rider on the way to a motel down the street.

Mona furrowed her eyebrows, skeptical and with her finger slightly resting on her pocket knife as it is tucked away in her bag. Karai was still drifty, the quietest she had ever seen her. Renet was switching between a smile and a frown constantly, but her eyes seemed tinted with anxiety. April's face was blushing in complexion, her pupils dilated and sharpened, and Mona began to think that April was becoming _angry_. Shini had her head tilted and her fingers on the man's thigh, and Mona couldn't fathom how she was able to mask her disgust. The man had a smirk on his face, exposing his glowing mouth, and his silence only made his presence creepier.

"So, how far is this place? Wouldn't want my girls to pass out on us," Shini asks him.

"Actually, we've arrived at our destination. I know that you must be eager," he hums, parking the car and swinging out of it.

Shini follows at his speed, and as she locks arms with him she turns around to wink at the girls. Mona wasn't exactly clear on where she was going at this point, but by looking at April she was able to guess what was about to come regardless.

Shit was about to go down.

Karai wasn't evidently showing an emotion, her eyes foggy and her movements slow. Renet threw her arm over her shoulder to pick up the speed, and Mona stood last so that everyone could be under her glance.

The man reaches a door and swings it open, and as soon he gets inside he swings Shini around and aggressively shoves his lips upon hers. Mona sucks in a scowl, but decides to lay down on the bed, ready to pounce if necessary. Renet stays closer to the door, visibly nervous about the encounter, and April is evidently _on her way._

Shini moves him a little closer to the bed, moving her eyes around when he isn't looking and giving them a subtle nod. April takes this as a trigger to attack, jumping from behind and arm locking his neck, harshly pulling him against the bed. Mona reflexively jumps off and then jumps back to add her grip, and Shini did the same.

"Didn't know you like it rough," he giggles.

"I guess you can say I do," Shini threatens, pulling the knife to his throat. "Don't you dare try moving, pervert."

"What the fuck!" he exclaims, eyes widening. "Get off of me, psycho bitches!"

"Talk," April says, deeply and roughly enough to make even him set aback. "I know you know where they are."

"What are you talking about?" he shakes his head rapidly.

April uses her other hand to swipe out the card, showing him its print. "You know where they are, damnit! The Hamato boys – Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey and Casey!"

"You know how many guys I deal with a day bitch? How the hell am I supposed to know-

"How about Saki?" Karai says quietly from the other side of the room. "Do you know who that is?"

He frowns, puffing out his lip and slanting his puffy eyebrows. "I ain't no snitch."

"Tell me what you know, or you won't be telling anyone anything ever again," Mona growls, adding her knife to the mix.

"Make me," he whines, spitting in her face. Mona swipes the edge of the blade against his cheek, a line of blood emerging. He begins screaming.

"I'm being murdered!"

"You think I'm the type of girl to play around, prick?" she continues, "Tell us what you know and nobody gets hurt."

"Okay, okay! Jesus fuck," he breathes harshly. "I made a deal last night with a representative from Saki enterprises. They bought 2k worth of crack from me, and they had some young guy with them. He was tied up, but I didn't care that much. I helped them inject him with some morphine, I guess to prevent him from fucking up their little plan, and they were out of here. They were on a plane somewhere else, I guess to meet up with some other guys who were in different places. He was speaking to a guy in Ohio."

"And how did this boy look?"

"Dark brown hair, blue eyes. Think they said his name was Leo."

"And do you know what they wanted with him?" Karai asks, surprisingly calmly.

"I guess they were baiting him for something. I think they said something about killing some members of his family."

"Plural members?" Renet shakes. "Wait – and how did this man look?"

"He had short black hair, sunglasses, and a black suit. Firm jawline," he describes.

Renet gasps. "That's the same guy I saw take Mikey! What else did they say they were doing? What about the others? Are they alive?"

"I didn't ask for an elaboration, I just know they had more than him captured and they didn't plan on keeping them alive."

"FUCK!"

April pounces and starts to punch his face as hard as she can, angry tears running down her face. Renet runs in to pull her off, trembling herself.

Mona turns back towards him and knocks him square in the jaw while Shini secured him down.

"I'll just knock him out," she tells them, but freezes when she hears violent coughs that are somewhat familiar to her.

And they weren't familiar from fighting.

After coughing up blood his body begins seizing, foam drooling down his chin.

"What's happening?!" Renet panics, holding tighter to April.

"He's overdosing," Mona tells them, "He must have been high on crack?"

"Should we help him?" Shini considers, her face whitening.

"No," April says cruelly. "The same thing could've happened to Leo. He could be dead right now, and it's all his fault."

"And we aren't going to stoop to the same level," Mona asserts, "Him and his crack farm will have fun in prison." She drags him out of the hotel into the alley, files a 911 call and zips back up to the hotel.

"Guess now we have somewhere to stay for the night," she mumbles, closing the door and taking a deep breath. "Are you guys okay?"

April was in the corner, her eyes fiery and bloodshot as she held tightly to a pillow. Renet was holding onto her wrist, her face shaken and her eyes blinking rapidly. Shini was sitting on the bed with her eyes to the ground, her eyes turning up to Mona sympathetically. Then there was Karai, sitting in a ball on the other side of the door.

"Karai?" Shini asks, and the name was the shot that pulled the trigger. Like that, there was tears falling down her face, turning into racketing sobs.

"This is all my fault," she cries, "All of this is all my fault!"

"Karai," Mona says softly, sitting down on the carpet. "You can't blame yourself for what happened."

"I shouldn't have let him in, and I shouldn't let you guys in either. Everyone close to me just gets hurt in the end," she cries, "He takes everything from me, and I'm selfish enough to still wrap people into my bullshitty life! I will never be free from him, not without everyone going down with me."

Renet crawls over closer to her, hesitantly resting a hand on her shoulder. "You're going to be free now, because we're totally on our way to bring Saki down. Everyone's gonna be okay in the end, I know we are! We just have to go on our journey now, not only to save the boys but to save you too. From him. I swear, we're all in this together, no matter what."

The others nod in agreement, even April, who was boiling in a fit of rage.

"Okay girls, it's time to hit the sack. We have a big few days ahead of us, and you guys are too drunk right now to stay up any longer," Mona announces. April immediately stumbles to the bed, her bangs falling back and revealing the sweat on her forehead. Shini helps Renet up and helps her to the bed, throwing a blanket over her. Once Mona turns, Karai is already passed out on the floor – but nevertheless, she lifts her up to the bed.

"We'll let them get the bed, they're going to be sick in the morning," Mona tells Shini, laying down on the carpet and pulling a pillow for herself.

"Today was pretty wild," Shini laughs ironically, settling herself down.

"Wildest I had since I moved to New York," Mona agrees. "You were really brave today Shini. Thanks, for all that."

"Of course," she answers, switching off the light. "It really is no sweat."

Within a few minutes she has fallen asleep as well, leaving Mona to stare up at the dark ceiling, worried that this is just another sleepless night which will prevent her from driving in the morning. She didn't like to show it to them, but the worry for her boyfriend's safety was rotting her from the inside out. Now, not only did she have him to worry about, but she had another responsibility.

She didn't know what made her feel that obligation, but making sure these girls are safe and looked out for had become her responsibility.

They had a big journey ahead of them, and she was definitely uncertain on whether or not things will turn out okay.

But she did know that she was willing to die trying.


	6. On The Road Again

_**A/N: To those of you who were Fixing Donnie fans, my friends and I are going to make it into a short film. It's probably going to come out some time in September.**_

 _ **Also some of my plans: Once this story is done, I plan to write a horror story – hopefully in time for Halloween. If anyone has been following me since the old days, you'll remember 'The Other Brothers', a Coraline based AU for TMNT from March 2016. I left it behind to make room for Fixing Donnie, but it will be back soon, and hopefully creepier and more high quality since my skills have improved.**_

 _ **I'll try my best to not lag on updates – I start school Wednesday and I'm attempting to get more hours at work. I promise I'll be working on these projects as soon as I can!**_

 _ **This chapter is a bit shorter than others – but I think it's important for the girls' character development and their relationships.**_

The blazing sun – oh what a mockery it was.

There comes a day when you force your heavy eyelids to crawl open, the slightest source of light a spark upon your pupils, your stomach feeling too queasy to handle sharp movement and your forehead screaming for relief from this crippling migraine.

This morning was one of those times, and Renet took a wild guess that this is what it was like to experience a hangover.

She pushed herself up and rubbed her cheeks, and it actually wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She wasn't throwing up and she didn't feel like a knock out – only an extreme cold. She learned that her body had a high tolerance for alcohol.

Well, good news for the future.

The only one in the car with her was Mona, who was sitting on the driver's seat facing forward, only showing her the tight curls of her hair. Renet's eyes quirked in confusion, wondering of the other three's whereabouts.

"Mona?" she asks, her voice cracked and strained, but somehow not as pure as it was this time yesterday.

"You're awake," Mona asks, her voice concerningly emotionless. "You feeling alright?"

"Just a little unsettled," Renet responds, rubbing her head. "Where are the others?"

"They're inside that Del Taco. We weren't about to have Karai throw up in the car and April had a really bad migraine, so Shini took them in to settle a little breakfast. I was staying with you, since we didn't want to wake you up," Mona replies.

"Oh," Renet says, sitting further up. "Are you hungry?"

"Are you?" Mona says.

"Well, yeah," Renet answers. "I'm always hungry."

"Then we'll join them," Mona says, beginning to open the door.

"Hey Mona," Renet cuts out nervously, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

Renet's expression wears concern and a tad of nervousness, and it's evident that she is very understanding of emotion. Too understanding for Mona to pour hers onto her.

"Sure," she replies. "Let's get going, before we have to hit the road. It's going to be a long ass drive."

They tag along inside the place, and Mona is secretly relieved to get a meal in her stomach. Renet is relieved to get a strawberry milkshake, which always is a relief anyways.

Karai's face is a pale green, but she seems to be a lot better. April still has a red face, massaging her temple, and Shini seems pretty satisfied to get a meal.

"About time," Karai says, her voice still sounding sick.

"Do you guys remember what happened last night?" Mona asks, deciding that being direct was the only way to go about it.

"Yes," Renet says sadly, every bit of it.

"I remember everything other than falling asleep," April says, her eyes still tinted with anger.

"I don't remember much," Karai sighs sadly. "I stopped remembering after you guys attacking the guy."

Mona takes a deep breath, remembering Karai's drunk breakdown from yesterday. "He made a deal with Saki's guys in exchange for drug money. He admitted to intoxicating Leo, and said that they had some plans about killing the rest of his family. He said they were on the way to Ohio, which happens to be on one of the cards. So now, I guess, we'll be traveling to each of these places, until we can uncover enough to find them."

Karai is silent for a moment, her eyes fixed on the table. They catch her eyes reflect sorrow, but it becomes transparent quickly when her instincts click back on. "Alright. We're driving to Ohio?"

"Well, we don't exactly have enough money for all these planes. We'll have to. Ohio isn't as far compared to the other places, but one step at a time, right?" April says.

"Right. We'll have to get a map to Euclid, to make sure we don't get lost. This card says it has to do with a yellow mansion and a checkered mistress. That's pretty vague to figure out."

"Maybe there aren't a fat quantity of mansions in that area. Or at least yellow ones. We'll have to think of an excuse to enter, so that we could find the mistress and determine her relevance," Shini ponders.

"We can come up with a plan in the car, since we can't waste any time. We were just behind Leo; the faster we pick up the speed, the more likely we can catch up. We don't know what kind of transportation they're using, so we have to make do with what we have efficiently as we can," Mona plans, standing up.

"At least I can drink my milkshake in the car," Renet smiles, and they all quickly get back into the van.

"Tell me when you're back to your old self Karai, I'm not driving over states on my own," Mona snarks.

"Am I ever my old self?" Karai smirks, leaning down and dipping her head.

"The way there isn't mega bad," April says, holding the phone to use Google Maps. "We have to cross to the other side of New York, a little slip into Pennsylvania and then Euclid is at the top corner of Ohio. According to this thing, the fastest route will take 6 hours, 44 minutes."

"Got it," Mona says, beginning to drive away.

"So, do we have a plan? Six hours isn't that long, actually. Or rounded up to seven hours. What time is it?" Renet asks.

"It's 11:40 AM," April responds.

"So we'll arrive at about 7:30 or something, and then we'll act right away, since we don't have any more time to mess around. If it's so soon, we'll have to make a plan now," Renet continues.

"I always love a good plan," Shini smiles, making Mona slightly facepalm. "So, this mistress sounds scandalous. A mistress is always scandalous, of course. A woman is more conniving than a man, so we'll have to think more thoroughly. More sneakily. How are we going to get in the house?"

"Sometimes, things make more sense once you're already there. I think we don't have to rush out a plan, because it comes to us once we're familiar with our surroundings and we know what kind of situation we're in. Just wait it out," Karai says, not looking up.

Mona sighs. "Fair enough."

For a lot of the drive they sit in silence, other than the slight buzz of the radio with the reception cutting out. Karai had fallen back asleep, spread along the back of the van and ignoring the space she was taking up. Shini was touching up her nails, and the others wondered how much she really carried on her. April seemed to be still seething in settling her anger, and Renet was focusing on the sights out the window, and she was beginning to feel suffocated by the silence.

"Hey," she says, and everyone's eyes wander towards her. "You know, for some of the deep stuff we're going through together, we really don't know a lot about each other."

"What do you mean?" Shini asks.

"You know, stuff like what do you believe in? What do you do with your life, what do you want for the future? How were you raised, what makes you happy, or sad, or scared, or mad? That kind of stuff?" she continues.

"You want to know about these things?" Mona asks.

"Yes," Renet replies, "I think that we should know these things, if we're all a part of a team for now."

"Okay," April says, "You're right. You seem eager about this idea, so why don't you talk about yourself first?"

"Sure," Renet smiles, looking out at the sky to get her thoughts together. "So first, the basic stuff. I love anything blue, and even though I'm ditzy in life I really do love science. Especially building things, and new technology. I believe in kindness and fun, you know, to live a happy life. I try to always look at the bright side of things, because what is the use in being pessimistic? Everyone told me I was always 'young for my age', because I have a fear of growing up. I know what growing up does to people, but I know I'll have to grow up soon. I put on makeup for the first time Friday, because I thought it would make me feel pretty. I guess I was right. I'm actually not from New York, so I'm still getting adjusted over here. I am actually from Huntington Beach, California. My mom died in an accident, so my dad wanted us to come and have a fresh start. I moved here two years ago, right when it was time to start high school. I miss the weather and Disneyland and the pacific beaches, but it's okay. There's some cool stuff here too. The coolest thing was meeting Mikey. I met Mikey, and he is my only best friend. We like a lot of the same things, and we're similar in the way that we like to cherish youth, and hold on to it as long as we can. We like comics and video games and arcades, and we like to use our imagination. I think that maybe, I've started to get a crush on him? But I don't know, since I never had a crush on anyone so I don't have a model to judge upon. My dad is really strict, but I love him. I know he's only out to protect me, especially after what happened with my mom, you know? I'm really worried about him now, like really worried. It makes me really sad, but I know he'll be okay once I'm back. He'll be proud of me, because I'll have saved Mikey. I know I will."

"I don't have my mom either," April starts, "But I don't at all know what happened to her. She went missing and just never came back, so I don't even know if she's dead or alive but all this time gives us the darker theory. I was six at the time, so I basically grew up just me and my dad. When I was 14, my dad was kidnapped too. I didn't know what to do and I was super lost, and I started staying with my aunt and starting thinking that I'd become an orphan. My aunt loves me, don't get me wrong, but she worked on an airline and was never around and I was still young to be on my own. I had only known the Hamatos for a short time, since Donnie saved me from some bullies at the beginning of freshman year. But they knew what was happening to my dad and with my aunt, and they began to think I wasn't safe since it appeared strongly that something was out for my family. Yoshi offered for me to stay there, so I did for a couple months. It was unusual and a little strange at first, but it easily became my second home. They were my family too, are my family, and I love them. Yoshi was my second father and got me involved with his dojo, and it sort of gave me a sense of purpose. I lived a bland life before, and I never really any close friends. After a few months my dad was rescued so I moved back with him, but he was suffering from PTSD. I learned about some conspiracy going on involving my mom and some agency deal she was involved in, but it obviously was a dangerous one and it made me question who she really was. They did horrible things to my father and were planning to take me, so I furthered my self-defense training and spent the majority of my time with the Hamatos, and they cared for me while my dad was recovering from the PTSD. Ever since we met, it was obvious that Donnie was head over heels for me, especially when I lived with them, but I thought there was too much going on in my life to deal with my feelings. In reality, through it all, he was my only sanity and he still is. The thing is that I never told him that. Now I'm getting the fear that I'll never be able to. As for myself, I love cats and school too and I plan to go to a university next year, but I'm a little confused on which route to follow. I think I'll either become a journalist, a flower shop owner or a psychologist, like my dad."

"I am not from New York either. I actually only moved here six months ago, trying to get away from that old lifestyle. I lived on the south side of Chicago, and my parents were involved with a gang. For my entire childhood I lived in fear, with either the police or other gangs shoved down my throat, making me feel like a prey that was usable to get back at my parents. There was one cop who thought differently of me – his name is Sal. He once rescued me from a home raid when I was a little older than a toddler and stayed with me the whole time, and we talked about power rangers, which I was into at the time. He actually spent a lot of time with me, taking me to do fun things and do other things that I would never be able to do with the family I had. He got me into kick boxing, which I probably need to defend myself. It was a fun hobby and got me fit, but more importantly, it made sure that I was safe. Luckily, I was a few years in when I was eight and the thing happened. It was 11 at night, and I was up in my room with my little sister reading some magazines. She was four at the time. Suddenly I heard the familiar sound, the gunshots, and the shattering of windows. I pulled her down and we crawled under the bed, and I pushed her behind me and covered my head. I heard my mother screaming and the gunshots seemed to get closer, and I knew that they had gotten inside. I heard a voice that I knew very well, shocking me to the core. It was the voice of my father. He had left a year ago to be with his gang, but I knew more than most kids my age and I knew that my mom was cheating on him. Maybe he learned that me and my sister weren't even his biological children. I don't know, just a hypothesis. I peeked out, and I was hiding and I called Sal on the phone, telling him to come help me. He told me to stay hidden, and that he'd be right there. However, I disobeyed. I thought it was possible I could save my mother. I stole a gun that she kept under the bed and I ran downstairs. I was too late, my mother was on the floor dead. He was running towards me, and I did the only thing that I could. I shot, and it hit the guy that was helping him, I think he died. I didn't care and I still don't. My father shot at me but missed, and I ran out the door, but froze when I remembered my sister. I heard more gunshots inside, and I guessed that he killed her. I never saw her dead, but it was the only thing that could have possibly happened. Sal grabbed me and ran, while the other cops stormed inside. I thought that my father either died or went to prison, but I should've known better that he would be able to escape. Sal adopted me, and we moved a few places – until we finally came to New York. That's when I learned that my assumptions had been wrong. Newt had followed me somehow, and he was here, stronger than ever. He was doing schemes with Saki enterprises. I never told Sal about this, because I was scared that he would take him too. I got even more into fighting, because I wasn't going to let this happen. I was not ever going to rest until he was taken down, so much so that it had consumed my life and everything about me. About my life. I met Raphael at the gym once, and we bonded over a mutual enemy – Saki. Of course, Newt's affiliation made me his enemy and Raph's father was involved into some deeper unfinished business. He is the only part of my life that isn't violent, and that's why he's so important to me. We're both fighters, but we are also both scared. I don't want us to be scared anymore."

The girls are quiet for a bit, their eyes saddened and their eyes shocked. Her usually somber expression made Mona's past questionable, but they never thought that her life was so intense. Saying sorry didn't feel appropriate.

"I moved from Tokyo a year ago, because my mother was involved in gang stuff too. I guess my uncle was some type of evil man, and she didn't want me near him or his affiliations. I don't know who my father is, and I never really questioned it. Men don't have to matter that much. I was always strange and not how a girl should be, and I didn't mind that. Everyone else did, and I never had anyone on my side, other than my mother. And I was fine with that. Then, things got bad and she told me I had to go. I was afraid, but I was 18 and I didn't have to stay anymore. I didn't want to leave her, but she insisted on keeping me safe before I got involved in all of that too. She snuck me on a plane and there I went, flying to New York. When I got here, I didn't have the resources to take care of myself properly, and I don't think we thought of that before. America isn't like Japan. I enrolled in school, because maybe with education I can make something. I don't what I want to do, but I know I want to do something. I got close with being Wiccan and other apparently strange things, and everyone gave me weird looks at school but I really didn't care. I focused on doing my makeup and learning new tricks and taking care of the kitten I adopted. I was staying in an abandoned apartment and I always was afraid that I would be caught, but then I would just have to find somewhere else to sneak in. My life, especially as I became an American, was just a process of sneaking and hiding. The school must have thought I was concerningly strange too, because they made me go to youth counseling after school. At least it was something to do, I thought. That's where I met Casey, and he became a friend. At least that was hope that things here would maybe get better for me. I get the feeling that my mom followed me. I know that she did. I don't know why she would do that without telling me and without trying to find me, but my senses tell me that she isn't so far. I trust my senses, but obviously there's a lot going on that I don't yet understand. I can only hope that one day I'll get the chance to understand, understand something bigger," Shini shares.

"Karai? What about you?" Renet asks, her voice quiet from processing all of this sad information.

Karai snaps into alertness, her eyes widening.

 _No one can know, no one can see vulnerability. Ever._

"My past doesn't matter. I don't matter, and you shouldn't be concerned with knowing me. To be honest, I'm really not worth knowing. I never had a family, and I never will. I don't think I even quite understand the word, and that's a sign that I'm not the way that humans are supposed to be. Especially for a teenage girl, with all that crushing and crying and whiny fuckery. Miss me with that bullshit. I had one alleged family member once, but he's a contradiction to the meaning and he isn't anything to me. He never was, I swear it. It doesn't matter. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I don't have emotional baggage and I'm not sad. I stay with Leo because since I was forced into New York at 15 for that pathetic cuntwad's business, Leo was the first thing that didn't bore me. He's my source of fun and amusement, and the poor kid seems to do anything for me, so now he's putting a roof over my head. His father and brothers don't trust me because of my past, and I don't blame them. You shouldn't trust me either. Just because I don't have family and I'm a top-class bitch doesn't make me sad though. My past didn't matter then, and it doesn't matter now."

"You know, it's okay to tell us stuff Karai, we promise we won't judge you," April says quietly.

"I've told you everything I have to tell," Karai snaps, and the softening in her face shows that she regrets her tone. However, she had an issue with saying sorry. Learnt behavior. "It's fine."

Mona looks up at her through the front mirror, sadness in her eyes. She knew about Karai, and she knew what her life looked like. She had known who Karai was ever since she had gotten involved with getting back at her own father, who was in cahoots with Karai's. She wasn't telling the truth about the way she felt and the way life treated her, but Mona wasn't going to force her to talk when she wasn't ready. She wouldn't exploit someone like that.

All of them were looking at Karai with sad eyes, thinking of Karai's drunken break down that she didn't remember. She wasn't telling them a lot, and they knew this, and it saddened them. They got the feeling that out of all of them, she was suffering the deepest emotional turmoil.

Karai hated the way they were looking at her, and it made her eyebrows sharpen and her lips straighten. She didn't have the energy to tell them to stop. Or maybe, she was too afraid. She was very skilled at lying, but they didn't deserve that. Not anymore than she already had.

"Karai," Mona says, biting the bullet, "I know we've had our differences over this thing, and I'm sorry for being incompetent. Even if we didn't really get along, I'm here for you okay?"

Karai nods in response. She wasn't good at saying thank you either.

"I'm glad you guys were able to open up. It's always helpful to know about a person, you know? It always helps you to understand what made them who they are, and that's really important when functioning as a team. We all haven't had the easiest time, and I think we can relate to each other a lot more. We have different personalities, but we all can agree on something – we've all known loss, and we aren't going to have it happen again. More importantly, we are all in this together. No matter what happens, we are together," Renet says.

"Who knew you could be so mature?" April slightly chuckles.

"Do you guys know Leatherhead? Well, he told Mikey he was very wise for his age. Maybe I've picked up a few things," she smirks.

"I'm sure he was right," April laughs fondly.

The ride is silent for a little while longer, maybe because they didn't know what to say, or because they were focused on what will happen next, or because they were processing this information on each other.

Maybe Karai was thinking that her habits would get in the way of this mission, and Leo was even more important to her than she thought. He was the first person to ever care about her.

She is about to speak up, but Renet interrupts, a secret relief.

"Guys, I have something to tell you," Renet says.

"What'd ya do, Blondie?" Mona asks. Karai's nickname had sort of grown upon all of them.

"I may or may not have, um, stolen 1000 dollars from that gold tooth guy while you guys were beating him up," she says.

"What? No way," April says.

Renet pulls the money out of her purse to show them, a plethora of 100 dollar bills. "It's most likely drug money, but it's money. I thought it could help us out a lot, and I have no remorse for robbing such a lowlife."

"Kid, I am so proud of you!" Shini exclaims, pushing her shoulder. "It's always the ones you expect of least, I tell you."

"I never thought I'd applause stealing, but I applaud your stealing. Maybe it'll help with this complicated transportation issue. If we end up driving cross country, we'll need a hell load of gas," Mona says.

"And we could always do some schemes to get more money, like we did at that mall. Schemes are a lot more fun, and useful, as I thought," April laughs.

"Guys?" Karai's tone sounds small and vulnerable, something rarely coming out of her. All of them stare back at her, slightly alarmed.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but-

"It's okay," April assures. "You should never be afraid to talk."

"Well, I'll just come out and say it," she sighs, refusing to look at them. "When I said that my life wasn't anything and that I wasn't sad, I was lying."

They're quietly for a minute, and Renet puts the rest of her milkshake in Karai's hand without saying anything.

"I know, Karai," Mona says, her eyes fixed on the road. "It's okay."

"I thought, that maybe you guys deserve to know that much," Karai says, hoping that they wouldn't reply. They caught on to this, and they didn't.

She hesitantly accepts the milk shake, trying to pretend that this wasn't her first time trying it either. She didn't need to spread this pity of her empty life any further.

They were silent, for the rest of the ride. Maybe sometimes, silence was what they needed. Silence was peace.

For soon, havoc would wreck once again. At least now, they would feel more in touch with each other, and this team would become more powerful than ever. For the boys – and maybe even for each other.


	7. A Checkered Mistress

_The Lakewood City – Euclid Welcomes You! Founded in 1796._

"God, finally!" April exclaims, "Lowkey, I was starting to get carsick. This is nothing like driving up to North Hampton."

"What time is it again?" Renet yawns.

"It's almost 8," Mona tells them, glancing down at the phone.

"Just a bit longer than our estimate," Shini smiles, "So, are we doing this now or what?"

"It'd be the smartest idea. After all, our hesitation yesterday cost us finding Leo on time. Now that we're here, it's time to actually plan," Karai affirms.

"We usually do the best planning when we're eating," Renet nods, "Definitely! Let's go eat, right now, no time to waste!"

"Or do you just want a chance for a meal?" Mona smirks.

"I mean…" Renet smiles cheekily, "Who doesn't want a meal? You know, the food pyramid says you should eat three well rounded meals a day. You know, for good health!"

"I'm pretty sure the food pyramid doesn't say that fast food brings good health," April laughs.

"Still! I'm starving man! Practically wasting away," Renet pouts.

"Okay, but I'm sick of drive thru type food. Is there a café around here or something? Maybe one of those burger places?" Karai says.

"We'll have to hurry, those type of places typically don't stay open too long. April, look up places near us yeah?" Mona suggests.

"On it," April says, quickly searching through google. "There's a place called Crown Burgers and Subs."

"Then we're on our way," Mona says, changing the direction of the van. "While we're eating some burgers, or subs, we'll have to talk about a few things."

The girls arrive and quickly enter, worried that they didn't make it on time. Karai refused to see another McDonalds – once was enough for her lifetime.

This night was in fast pace, like a moment controlled by fast forward, and gravity had been tightening grip on them. It wasn't until now that they learned how taunting the clock can be.

"When's closing time?" Shini asks the employee, hurrying up to the ordering deck.

"At 10, miss," he says, his eyes fixed on her, obviously unfamiliar with these types of gothic girls. Girls were not very exotic in Ohio – or at least, not in the lonely town which he resided in. Cleveland was a different story.

"Okay, give me the best burger you have!" Renet's eyes brighten, "You have double cheeseburgers?"

Oh how she missed In and Out.

"We have two hours, so we're still on track. I'd rather get out of here as soon as we can, because things may be a bit harder at night time. It isn't a party we're dealing with this time," Mona says, and they all bring their food to a table, far from the counter so that their conversation could say private. This server seemed to take an interest, and they really didn't have time for him.

"Okay, first we'll have to figure out a way to find the mansions around here. I don't think they're gonna pop up on google. How are we gonna find where it is? Just drive around?" Karai asks.

"Seems like a waste of gas, there must be another way. Why don't we ask someone around here? I'd expect someone to know their hometown pretty well. Then, we can investigate how to get in," Shini adds.

"Shouldn't we figure out how to get in now?" Mona asks.

"We have to know our surroundings, remember? What if someone gives us some information that could help us get in? What if we see something on the mansion that could help us get in?" April says.

"Fair enough," Mona sighs. She was just really worried that they wouldn't make it on time. It only takes one second to lose something forever. Or, someone.

"Here, I'll see what's up right now. Watch," Karai gets up, swinging her hips as she approaches the counter. "Hey, Neil, come here."

The goofy worker boy had buck teeth and tight red curls, his mouth hanging slightly open. "You talking to me?"

"Duh, you seem to be the only Neil around, right? Or am I looking for someone else?" she smirks, eyeing his name tag.

"No, I'm Neil! Just me, miss. Can I help you?" he stutters.

"Look here, I'm from out of town and I'm looking for something and I was hoping you could help me," she says.

"You need a place to say?" he says, sucking in his drool.

"You wish," she half laughs. No time to roast when she needed information. "I'm looking for a yellow mansion. My cousin lives there, but now I'm lost and my phone is dead so I can't ask for directions. You know where there's any yellow mansions around here?"

"You must be talking about what we've dubbed 'rich strip.' Head to Lakeshore Blvd, closer to Cleveland. There's an entire street of mansions up there, and of course everyone has heard of the yellow one. Owned by some tycoon that no one ever sees, some Great Gatsby shit. However, they're almost always hiring new maids with cute checkered outfits."

Karai smiles in satisfaction. The only thing better than information is useful information.

"Thanks, buddy! That helps a lot," she says, kissing him on the cheek. Gross, but he may deserve something for saving their asses. "See you around, yeah?"

He doesn't respond, only holds his cheek and dizzily hazes back. Karai turns back towards the table. "Y'all hear that?"

"Yeah," Mona says, standing up. "Let's get moving!"

"I'm not finished with my burger," Shini says, rushing it into her mouth.

"We don't have time for this Shini," April sighs, grabbing her by the wrist. "Come on!"

"I can always help you eat it if you want," Renet's eyes shine.

Shini quickly shoves the rest down her throat, downing it with a cup of soda. "That better not have messed up my lipstick!"

"We can go up there and pretend we're looking to become maids, and it'll get us inside. We'll find this checkered maid and find out what we can learn about her. If we want to be considered for a 'hire', we'll have to look pretty. Do we look like trash now or what?" April asks.

"We still have our party clothes on, but I don't know if that's the kind of material they're looking for. Our other clothes don't either, so what are our choices?" Shini asks.

"Hurry, look up the closest Halloween store," Karai says, reaching for the phone.

"Halloween store? In the end of June?" Mona asks. "What makes you think we have time-

"Chelsea's Costumes and Vintage Clothing," she smiles, and is already on the phone. "Hey, do you guys have any maid costumes in stock?" She puts the phone on speaker, although it sounds like the mumbling from cartoons.

"Okay cool, and what time are you closing? Okay thanks."

Karai throws the phone down and leaps into the driver's seat. "They're closing at 9:30, and it's 8:30 now. The damn drive takes 25 minutes. Y'all ready to fly?"

"Okay, hurry! Go!" Mona says, all of them jumping into alarm.

"I'm driving, because I can go hella fast. You've gotta hold on tight kiddos, alright?" she says, and instantly hits the accelerator.

"Wait! Renet, get in the front seat and buckle up," April commands.

"Why me?" Renet asks.

"Because we'd feel most guilty if you're the one to fly out the window," she continues, "Now, let's hit it!"

Karai was obviously going further past the speed limit, and further than the flow of traffic on the freeway. The girls were holding on tight and those in the back were struggling to stay in place, and other cars were starting to honk.

"Karai!" April calls out, tightly gripping whatever was closest to her. "We can't get anything done if we get in a crash?"

"Relax," Karai smirks, "You only get in crashes if you don't know what you're doing."

It was like being on a roller coaster at Coney Island, but with the threat of imminent death. A threat with _much_ higher statistics of chance of occurring, at least.

"Lighten up guys," Renet laughs, letting her hair flutter onto her face, "This is fun!"

"Yeah, because you have a seatbelt!" Mona shudders.

At least three cars caught off guard from the speed began swerving and honking, their middle-aged faces glaring and cursing at Karai from rolling down their tinted windows.

"Oh, fuck off!" she puts her head out the window, quickly pulling it back in from the aggressive chilly wind on her face. They got there in fifteen minutes instead of twenty-five, and Karai had an expression of pride as she finally settled into the parking lot.

"Mission accomplished," she smiled.

"That was wild," Renet says, the others nodding in agreement. Although her candor was in quite the contrast to the other three.

"Not like my life hasn't flashed before my eyes before," April says, snapping out of her dizziness.

"See? I didn't get anyone killed. You can always trust me to get the job done," Karai smirks, "I'm just that good."

"Okay, maid costumes," Mona says, as they scurry inside the store. "This is going to be ridiculous."

"Anything for darling boyfriend though, right?" Shini asks.

Mona sighs, and they quickly skate through the sliding doors.

"This smell," Renet smiles, "It reminds me of getting all the stuff ready as a kid to have a birthday party and it being totally the second best day ever – next to the actual party of course."

"I thought of Halloween stores as a new wardrobe," Shini's eyes brighten, "Lots of adorable dresses and hats!"

"Hey, where do you guys keep your maid costumes? We're going to a summer costume party for our college," April tells the worker, a young woman with large glasses, a mole and the brightest of red lipsticks.

"Summer costume party, huh?" she responds unenthusiastically. "Never heard of that one. Not that I would know, since I didn't go to anything in college. It is never safe with males present."

"You're the one I talked to on the phone, right? You told me you had maid costumes in stock. Where are they?" Karai asks. Her assertive attitude made the clerk nervous.

"They're in the left corner of the back," she answers. Mona offers a smile before the disappear through the store.

After tons of ridiculous costumes that no one bothered buying from last Halloween, they finally discovered a rack with checkered maid costumes in all sizes.

"Hurry, grab one. Make sure it's your size," Karai tells them, and they're quick to grab and pop into the dressing room. "We can pay them once it's already on."

"Or, we can just run for it," Shini suggests.

"The last thing we need is the police after us right now. Don't risk anything," Mona says, and they all pop into stalls and change as quickly as possible.

"Hah," Renet laughs, "It's like when you would have to change into your PE clothes and the gym teacher is yelling because you have to be on the black top in two minutes."

"No time for jokes now," Mona says, already leaving the stall. "Only time to run."

"But there's always time to joke," Renet pouts, the rest of them following.

April stops to eye herself in the mirror, flipping her hair and smirking at the way her curves were pulled in by the costume. This little journey sure did present a new-found sense of confidence. There's always a silver lining, she supposed.

"Sorry, we don't have time to change back and forth," Karai says, "But I'm sure you can scan them this way, right?"

"I suppose," the clerk sighs, "You couldn't have the energy to change back out, huh? Skinny girls are such hypocrites."

"We have a party to get to, and being fashionably late can only go so far," April remarks, ignoring the comment.

"Such a shame to see women under such stress to impress men, just another side effect of the patriarchy," she groans.

"Actually sweetie, dick is what comes chasing after me, knowing that I can kick all of their asses at once. Sorry that you never got any love, but you ain't gonna ruin it for the rest of us," Karai laughs mockingly as they take their receipt and begin to back out.

"Have fun on Tumblr love!" Shini says, and after receiving a deceitful pout from her they disappear back onto the asphalt under the navy sky.

"We don't have to be as fast this time, right?" April shudders.

"Considerably. We're not on a timer, but we are gonna be assed out if we get there too late. We'll just tell them we were hired for the night shift. That kid claimed no one sees the mansion owner, so it's probable that we won't have to deal with him. We'll just find that chick and damn everyone else," Karai explains, and they all hit the freeway once more.

Once this whole thing is over, they'd be majorly sick of freeways.

The ride feels like lightning, floating on the speed of the night and tensing them all in their bones. They felt cornered by magnets that were pressuring them in, mocked by the gravity and the falling sky above them, racing against time that had the power to destroy them. They weren't feeling up to talking, and even Renet knew when it was time to be quiet. They were all focused on the progress of the road, other than Shini, who was fixing her lipstick that indeed got messed up.

"Here we are, Lakeshore Blvd. You guys seeing anything super fancy?" Karai asks, turning her face side to side.

"There are definitely mansions everywhere," April awes, "Look at this! Can you imagine actually living in something like that? It looks like an apartment!"

"It's so ridiculous," Mona growls, "There are people who are homeless or living in a cockroach invested shack and these people are here hogging all that space for themselves? I can't stand the rich sometimes."

"Tell me about it," Shini laughs ironically.

"Bing, Bing, I think we've got a winner!" Renet says, pointing to a very yellow mansion to their left.

"Alright, cool," Karai says, abruptly parking on the side of the road. "These pricks are probably the type to ticket us for parking here. If so, I'm ditching it. Fuck that, I don't even live here."

"Remember the plan guys," Mona reminds them, "We're looking to start our jobs as maids for the nightshift. Use that chance to explore as thoroughly as we can. Shini, you go with Renet. Karai, you go with April. I'll stay with that mistress and find out what I can."

Nodding, they all escape the van and start to walk up the extravagant porch – large stone steps and fountains on each side. The door was large and wide and crystal, and they stared up at it all for a second before Mona rang the doorbell.

A few moments and a few distant footsteps later, the door opened to reveal a suited butler – a movie stereotype with glasses and a bald spot on the top of his head.

"May I assist you?" he asks, with a painfully pretentious accent.

"Greetings sir," Mona says, reaching out to shake his hand. "We've been recently hired to work as night shift maids."

"Oh, I see," he says, looking down at his watch. Just their luck, it happened to be the time that night shift maids were to be expected. "Is this your first night on the job?"

"Yes," Mona replies, "We were hoping that we could get a little tour to be more familiar with our jobs? Maybe have someone more experienced teach us a few things?"

"Certainly," he answers. "Come on in, it's a bit breezy outdoors. I'll have you some help in just a moment."

Mona winks back at them and they all follow, gazing in awe at their surroundings. The place was coated in gold and the entry way was displayed with paintings and small sculptures, and there were two long stairways leading to a white balcony and a long hallway above them. They couldn't lie that it was beautiful, but all that Shini could think about is the worth of this place. If she could only get her hands on something…

"Are you darlings the new maids?"

They turn up to see a woman walking down the stairway, her glowing golden eyes gazing down at them. She had short, thick curls of bright auburn shade, her jawline sharp and her lips juicy, her outfit tight and promiscuous and very eccentric. She was like a modern-day Marilyn Monroe – only with the smell of smoke seeping from her breath. Before they even spoke, they turned to each other and agreed – this was the checkered mistress indeed.

"We certainly are," Mona smiles, walking closer. "My name is Mona Lisa. We are all starting our first shift tonight."

"Mhm," the woman purrs, "Fellow redhead I see?"

"There are more of us out there than you'd think," April chuckles. "I'm April."

The other three introduce themselves, followed by the woman praising their 'unique names', and that 'a girl with a name like that is a darling lady indeed.'

"And I am called Rosie," she blushes, blinking softly and displaying her luscious lashes. "My pleasure to meet you."

"Girl, where did you get those lashes?" Shini awes, "They're the most fabulous I've ever seen!"

"An icon never reveals her secrets," Rosie winks, "But soon enough, all of you darlings will be sexy vixens indeed."

"We look forward to working with you," Mona says. "May you please show us around?"

"Of course!" she laughs. "You'll surely have a lot to learn."

"Yo, is that the maid from the first season of American Horror Story?" Karai whispers to April, causing her to giggle softly.

"May we use the bathroom? We'd like to take the second to see the showers, if you don't mind," Renet asks.

"Sure thing, babygirl," Rosie responds. "We can all go if you'd like."

"Oh no, it's okay," she shakes her head. "You guys get along and see the rest of the house, and I'll be sure to catch up."

"I think I'll tag along with Blondie," Shini says, "Just in case she gets lost in all these halls."

"Sure thing," Rosie turns to the other girls, pushing her hair with shoulders. "Come on ladies, we have a lot more to see."

"Wait, I have an even better plan," Karai's eyes twinkle. "We can break off in pairs! April and I can take a look at the different rooms around here, and Rosie can take Mona wherever she needs to go."

"Hmm, I'm not sure if you girlies are ready for a tour without a guide," Rosie raises a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"How will we adapt without a sense of discovery?" Karai responds.

"I don't believe you've heard me, doll face. When I tell you the way I want, it is the way we do. Understand?" Rosie blushes, although whether it was of natural complexion or the world's best makeup brand was unclear.

"It's okay girls. I'm sure we could learn a lot together this way," Mona tells them.

Karai is about to let out a snarky protest when April pinches her wrist, reminding her of the plan and what they can do to get there. Karai sighs and they turn back to Rosie, who lightly bounces one of her locks of hair. "Come along babygirl," she reaches for Mona's wrist, "I've got plenty of schooling to do."

Mona turns back to give Shini and Renet a wink in order to let them know that they mutually would be digging for the best they can get, but the two had already disappeared.

Shini had snaked Renet up the staircase, leading her in the opposite direction. "Don't ask about where the bathroom is – we'll be able to cover more space."

"What if they pass by and she sees us snooping where we aren't supposed to?" Renet whispers.

"Simple," Shini replies, "Just don't get caught."

"I'll be on guard while you look through stuff," Renet suggests, her copper eyes surfing the superfluous hallways.

They follow each other through the crimson red carpet, holding onto the silver railway. "Hey, don't forget about that butler guy too."

An ominous breeze, the aroma of something terribly out of place.

"Let's go in here first," Shini says, reaching a bedroom. "You stay by the door and keep watch, and if you see anyone coming give the door a little knock. I'll be looking inside."

"Okay, gotcha," Renet smiles awkwardly, watching Shini sneakily slide herself through the doorway. She was nervous that she would mess up in some way – and something in her told her that the consequences would be dire.

Shini watches her footsteps, trying to keep her moves silent and observing carefully to assure vacancy before proceeding. There was a king-sized bed in the center of the room, a velvet canopy draping over it. There were photographs and paintings in gold frames along the walls, all of them of different men which foggily stared back at her, their water colored pupils seeming to be doors to a soul. Obviously, a painting did not carry a soul, but that did not erase the threat. She was definitely sensing some dark energy within these walls, which only made her more determined to find the source.

"Hmm, where are you hiding?" she whispers to herself, seeing no place for anything to hide within the room. Shinigami had absolutely no fear of things which most people would consider haunting. In fact, hauntings were travesty which drew her in with excitement and curiosity, and she couldn't help but crave to chase after them. Yet sometimes, the fear that came with it was the heart of the thrill. Almost hesitantly, she peers through the canopy – to find an awfully strange arrangement.

A rope lay tied on the mattress, knotted and falling apart on the edges. It was not tied to anything other than itself, casually resting in the center of the silky quilt. Although a rope definitely was worth raising an eyebrow, it was not the strangest part – that being the small mass of dry blood that it seeped under it.

"Renet, get over here!" she calls, her hazel eyes as wide as the moon.

"But what about keeping watch?" she hears Renet say. "It's okay, just get over here!"

Renet quickly enters the room, fearing that every second of vulnerability was a risk to not only the mission, but potentially their safety. They sure were learning a few things about what a second can do, and the mocking of a second's nature could be lethal. She pulls up more of the canopy to stand behind Shini, and gasps at the discovery.

"This shit just got real," Shini says, "We've got to get to the rest of the rooms, there's probably something worse out there. And we have to hurry – the others may be in danger!"

They quickly emerge back into the hallway, Renet letting out a deep breath of relief to find no one watching. Shini softly closes the door behind her, and they swiftly travel north like ghosts in the night.

There was a plethora of doors on both sides of them, all hiding a different story within them. Sadly, the time capsule was quickening in pace and losing its quantity, so they had no time to spare to explore each one of them. Fortunately, Shini was gifted with a sixth sense – one that came naturally and one that she worked for – and she could always take note of where the dark energy was the most present. When a particular door to her right made her heart pound and her head darken, she knew that it was worth investigation.

"That one," she tells Renet, pointing forward. "We're going to have to check that one."

"It looks like it's some type of office," Renet whispers, turning her head for a security check. "Offices hold paperwork and paperwork is a fat source for information, right?"

"I would think so," Shini replies, "In fact, a lot of information, and I don't have time to properly sort through it on my own. You're going to have to follow me and we'll keep our ears keen, just shut the door softly behind you."

"Oh, okay," Renet shrinks, growing overly anxious over the possibility of being caught. "I'm not scared," she reassures, even though Shini didn't ask.

Shini smiles a bit as they step inside the blue carpeted room, a room which most obviously housed juicy secrets. The walls were empty and painted a dull blue, and the only material inside the room was a basic black office desk. A desk and an alarm in Shini's head that she had something to see.

"There has to be something inside that desk worth seeing," Shini whispers over her shoulder. "Let's investigate."

"Have you noticed there's no light in here? How do we do a proper search if we can't see?" Renet asks.

"Well, today's our lucky day," Shini smirks, finding a flash light in the corner of the room. She picks it up and it flickers a few times before finally steadying the yellow light.

They crawl closer to the desk, which had nothing on its outside. Nothing except for an irresponsibly misplaced little silver key.

"This must be for the drawer," Renet says, gesturing towards the thin black slide out drawer attached to the desk.

"And the drawer must be our jackpot," Shini smirks, kneeling down to pop the key into the lock while Renet shun the light on her. After a second of budging, the drawer popped open – and revealed a pile of images and documents within in it.

"Are those pictures?" Renet asks.

"Seems to be that way," Shini replies, her acrylic nails clawing through each file at a quick gaze.

"Wait, I found one that isn't a picture!" Renet grasps, pulling out a document and holding it up for Shini to see.

"Saki Enterprises membership plaque?" Shini reads. "So, this guy does have to do with this whole thing. We've got to show Karai."

Renet sets the certificate on top of the desks and turns back to the drawer. "Recognize this?" Shini asks, pulling out a photo and resting it on top.

"It's him!" Renet exclaims, "At least, it's one of them! The guys in the suits!"

"Whoever this mystery man is, he's a key factor to what happened. But…why is Rosie significant?" Shini ponders.

"Let's keep looking," Renet nods, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Some of the photos were of no value – the mystery owner or Rosie or other unidentified persons at such and such fancy events and parties, or self-portraits. However, a particular photo caught their eye.

It was of Rosie, in her unmistakable checkered dress, with a rope wrapped around the chest of a shirtless young man with blood pouring from his mouth.

"Either they're into some BDSM or they're into something darker," Shini takes note.

There were several similar photos, all with different young men. Some appeared hypnotized, some in distress, some lost into a vortex of some kind. A few photos deeper, things got a lot darker.

The same men, with the same looks on their faces, laying dead and cold under Rosie's heel.

"Oh god," Renet gasps, putting a hand over her lips. "You don't think…?"

A new photo emerged, one bright and scented as the fresh print off the press. It was most obviously new – not only due to the quality, but due to the fact that this rope picture had Rosie and Raphael, a rope around his chest and terror in his distinct green eyes.

"That's Raph!" Renet cries, and Shini frantically throws out the rest of the photos, fearing that there will be a second deadly photo of him to follow the pattern. Yet after draining all of the contents of the drawer onto the blue carpet, there was only one remaining photo to feature Raphael – a close up of his face with a large X drawn over it in red Sharpie.

"What? What does this mean?" Renet panics, "Wait, do you think he could still be here?"

"The bathroom," Shini whispers, her fingers against her temple, "Renet, we have to go to the bathroom. My senses are telling me that there's something we need to see."

The two zoom out of the office and back into the hallways, running until the finally found a cream colored door which would lead to a bathroom. They finally found it, not bothering to check for any security before hurrying inside.

The sink was beautiful, made of marble with a shining silver faucet, and there seemed to be a large bathtub surrounded by a white curtain. The rug below them had stains of dry blood, and a silhouette hung from the other side of the curtain – a silhouette that couldn't be good.

Both girls were sweating nervously, but Shini gulped and reached her arm forward to make the revelation, Renet hiding behind her shoulder. Shini closed her eyes and bit her lip and yanked down the curtain –

To their relief, it wasn't Raphael. But still, it was the corpse of a young man – who was hanging by his neck on the curtain rack with a stab wound in his beautiful chest, now nothing but a rotting corpse.

They instantly turn to each other breathe in to scream, until they felt two sweaty hands clasp over their mouths, a tight grip against their shoulders, and the head of the butler pushing between them.

"So, think you can go around being sneaky intruders here and get away with it, do you?" the butler tightens his grip on their faces, his stubby nails digging at their dimples. "I realize you children think that playing dress up and pretend can get you what you want, but not here. I've been waiting for you, and now that you're here, you're never. Coming. Out."

He uses his arm strength to eject them forward, causing them to stumble as their shins crash into the bath tub, the corpse hanging in between them. Before they can turn, the butler has already exited and slammed the door shut, locking it behind them.

"Hey!" Renet shouts, wobbling back into a stance and banging on the door. "Let us out! You aren't going to get away with this! Mona?! Karai?! April?!"

"Don't bother yelling," Shini rushes out, "They won't hear. He'll make sure of it. We've got to figure out a way to break this door down."

Renet slides down the wall into sitting position, her bewildered eyes on the corpse before her. "How many dead bodies can I see in a weekend?"

Just as Shini had guessed, the others were too far away to hear a single sound, being guided on the opposite wing of the mansion. Rosie was superfluous and extravagant about her descriptions, praising each square inch of the property, and Mona, Karai and April followed her, their eyes thoroughly searching every hallway that they passed through.

"So," Rosie purred, slowing her steps and halting before the kitchen counter, her back still facing them. "Now that I've shown you darlings around, we can move on to bigger and better things."

"Better things?" April asks, and all of them crowd in eagerly.

"Oh, of course! You know, the responsibilities that come with being a maid. There's a lot more to us than knowing where everything is," she turns towards them.

"Right. Like the chores we have to do, right?" Karai asks, pining for the answers she wanted.

"Sure thing. The cooking, the cleaning, and what we get in return," Rosie smirks deviously. "There's a lot more satisfaction out there other than green dollar bills."

"We get paid in other ways?" Mona asks.

"Oh, I was sure the boss had told you about the boys."

The three turn towards each other quickly.

"No, he didn't give us a full description. Do you think you can explain it, considering you must have the best knowledge?" Mona asks, concealing her nerves.

"The boss may have a hell of a job, but it isn't the only source of our big bucks. What better way is there to get money than getting it from a handsome young man with a thick wallet? You see, the owner is more of my partner than my boss, and I'm unsure how this will apply to you. But for me? I've always been the biggest piece of the grand plan. I've never had co-workers before, but I can at least explain how it's played out for me," she begins to walk slowly back around closer to me. "He invites men over often, usually for a business affair or a dinner party, as he tells them. The come young and handsome and so very foolish, and the art of seduction pierces their heart in a second. They fall in love with my voice, and my body, and I bring them on a trip. They come to my bedroom, they sit under my camera, I butter them up, tie them in ropes, and when the moment is right – I stab their little hearts, and suddenly, all of their money is ours. It grows quite fun, once you get the hang of it."

Before the girls can react, Rosie kicks in a floorboard and April falls through, screaming and landing under the wood. The butler jumps out from the shadows, ambushing Karai and tightening cuffs onto her wrists throwing her down to the floor. That left Mona, standing in panic.

"Don't worry guys, I'll have you out in a second!" she tells them, Rosie laughing manically.

"Hey, let me out of here or so help me your head will be floating through the sewage and your limbs will be hanging from the trees! I swear it!" Karai kicks, and April pounds above at the wood.

"Oh Mona Lisa, aren't you going to get a kick out of this one!" Rosie purrs, her chin leaning over Mona's shoulder. "You see, I had a new little client just last night. His name was Raphael."

Mona furiously slams Rosie against the wall, shaking the entire room. Rosie remains collected and does not fight her off, smiling warmly back at her opponent.

"Tell me where he is!" Mona shouts into her face, "Tell me where the fuck he is and maybe I'll show you mercy."

"Awe, you truly are just like him!" Rosie chuckles, "A match made in heaven!"

Rosie pulls back a fist and punches Mona in the jaw, hoping to induce injury. To her surprise, Mona only laughs it off, and turns to punch Rosie hard enough to break her perfect little nose.

"You tell me what the fuck happened! You tell me!" Mona punches her twice more, and Rosie starts to attempt to squirm away. "Staying silent? Fine, I guess I'll have to force it out!" she continues to fight the murderous mistress, who had no chance of successfully fighting back whatsoever.

"Yes! You go girl! Fuck her up!" Karai cheers.

For a brief second of silence, a bit far in the distance, they hear a small crash – the sound of a door breaking down.

"They got out! The other brats escaped!" the butler stands up and runs back up the staircase.

"Stop! Stop!" Rosie cries out, "I'll tell you!"

Mona holds up Rosie by her collar and stares back at her, sweat dropping down her face. "Talk."

"The boss brought him in yesterday," she cries, "He stopped from his mission and brought him in. I thought he was my gift, but I had to play different from the others. He didn't want me, and I tried to force him. He was sad and broken, but still so valuable."

"Where is he now?" Mona asks, her face stone cold. "Did you kill him?"

"The boss took him away," Rosie says, "He said I could only do so much. I think he wanted to kill him for himself. I promise, I did nothing! That's all I know!"

"And where's the boss now, huh? Where'd they take him?" Mona continues.

"I don't know," Rosie sobs, "I just don't know! It isn't fair, none of it! They took it away from me, they took what was mine. Mine, mine, mine! It's not fair!"

Suddenly, Renet runs up and jumps over Mona, punching Rosie square in the face, knocking her unconscious.

"I was getting real tired of her bitching," Renet says coldly. Shini had run up as well, knocking over the wood and helping April climb up, and then running to the table to get the key to unlock Karai. "The butler's locked up, but I don't know how long we have until he breaks loose! We've got to get out of here!"

"C'mon Mona," Karai throws an arm over Mona's shoulder. "We're going to have to keep going if we want to figure out where Raph is now. Let's bust out of here!"

Mona nods affirmatively, the five running out of the mansion as fast as their feet can carry them. Yet once they push open the big golden gates, another voice is following them.

"You think you could escape me?" Rosie says, a large bump on her head and block pouring from her lip. "You aren't getting out of here alive!"

She's running toward them, a silver machete in hand.

"Shit!" Karai says, and they are able to pick up speed and get into the van. "Mona, run her over!"

"She's not worth it, we've got to go!" Mona says pulling quickly out of the drive way. They fly down Lakeshore Blvd with the insane woman behind them, smeared makeup as she screamed like a Halloween clown.

"Hi, I'd like to report something," Shini says, already on the phone with 911, "I live on Lakeshore Blvd and I smell a dead body in the yellow mansion. I think you better check it out."

They finally get back on the highway, only for the car to start making sharp noises, shaking and buffering and leading them onto the side of the road.

"Fuck!" Mona cries in frustration.

"What's happening?" Renet asks.

"Now, there's something wrong with the car."


	8. On the Road Again, For Real

_**A/N: I'M SO SORRY THAT I'VE BEEN MIA FOR SO LONG! First off I was insane busy and was trying to devote time to a film I'm making (the film is actually a live action (human version) adaption of my most popular fic Fixing Donnie HAHA so if you read that one I'll put out a link when it's finished**_ __ _ **And then my computer got a virus it was so awful but don't worry I'm back for good and I'll try to spend a lot of time on this one! Thank you so much for the support.**_

 _ **P.S. Towards the end of this chapter, there is content that may be considered offensive to some readers. You've been warned.**_

"Dude, what the fucking hell?!"

"Okay, don't panic! You know what happens when we panic? We all die!" Mona exclaimed, the crippled vehicle nearly slipping over the road. "Want us to crash?"

"So there's only one of two options, right?" April panicked, "Crash and die, ditch the thing and face those psychopaths back there and die, run for it and slowly decay in this hick town and then die-

"Oh please!" Karai snarked, "You big babies act like you haven't seen death before. No one's going to die, unless we act like a bunch of idiots and get too overwhelmed to actually think of a plan; then, we just might die."

"Okay, okay," Renet reassured, "We just gotta keep our cools and it's all good. With the things we've seen in the last few days, some old car is no trouble!"

"Is it all good yet to pull over?" Shini asks, the other four turning to Mona as if she was a mother who knows best.

"How far are we? I haven't turned back, you know, in order to keep us from flipping this old thing," Mona growls, her eyes sharply on the ashy highway in front of her under the slightly overcast night sky.

"Looks good enough," Shini says, popping her head out of the window but retreating quickly when her hair flies over her face. "Can't see the street anymore at all. What speed are we at?"

"85!" April exclaimed, eyes widening in horror. "Do you even understand the impact-

"We'll pull over!" Mona shouts, sighing at the frustration. Was having "friends" supposed to be like babysitting? "Just wait a second, okay? I can't just hit the brakes."

"Do you guys not recall breaking the speed limit just a few hours ago? You'd think you'd get used to it right now," Karai smirks, leaning back against the van and kicking up her legs to rest.

"I don't think I'd like to be stranded, though," Renet cringes.

"I don't think I'll ever like to be in Ohio ever again, if I live long enough to be offered that opportunity," April groans dramatically.

"Karai, what's up with the phone thing?" Mona raises an eyebrow, gradually slowing the vehicle. "That thing can't live forever. How is it not dead yet?"

"I have a portable charger on me, but it needs to charge pretty soon. I charged it back at that hotel but now that you mention it, the battery is a little red. Yikes," she says casually, closing her eyes as if to sleep.

"You know what will happen if we are out here on our own with a broken car and no phones?" April's eyes widen.

"We'll be dead!" Renet and Shini shout simultaneously, instantly breaking into laughter. Mona can't help but smile, a giggle falling from her trembling lips.

"So, she feels happiness?" Karai teases, stretching herself out with no consideration of those squeezed in beside her.

"It's pretty funny," Mona laughs, "Even when things are going majorly downhill, funny things don't just stop becoming funny."

"And if it does stop become being funny?" April asks, a smirk on her face.

"Then…" Mona says,

"WE'LL DIE!"

They all got a laugh at that one, noticing that their heartbeats were a lot steadier than they were two minutes ago.

"Okay, we got this," Mona applauds herself, the car finally reaching a stop. "There's not a lot of people around here, right?"

"Looks pretty rural to me, since you totally just drove into the middle of nowhere. I guess it's what you've gotta do if you don't want to be ejected from a high-speed car crash," Shini observes.

"Why care about the population?" Karai flips herself over, innocently tilting her chin, "Are you planning to murder us out here where no one can hear our screams and then silently bury us all in the dirt? Were you a part of this conspiracy all along?"

"Damn!" Mona snaps her finger, "You've caught me!"

When the van finally meets its stop, there is a second where no words are exchanged - everyone only sat in silence, as if they were coming down from an adrenaline rush. They were.

"Okay," Mona says, opening the door and swinging out onto the grass. "April, what do you know about this thing?"

"Next to nothing, if I'm gonna be honest," she smiles awkwardly, "I know that it works, or worked anyway, it fits a lot of people, and that it's older than god. I've never driven the thing or anything, or any other vehicle for that matter. Other than the time I went dirt biking that time with the cousins from Colorado, that was fun."

"Does anyone here know a thing about cars?" Shini asks, all of them looking at each other.

"I do!" Renet exclaims excitedly, only to see the others looking up at her partially surprised and partially skeptical. Why, this was sort of offensive.

"I like machines," Renet says awkwardly, twirling her strand of hair around her finger. "I'll go take a look, if that's cool?"

"Donnie has a way with machines," April smiled sadly, "I wish he was here to know what to do. He always does."

The five of them were quickly outside, popping open the front truck and exposing all of the mechanics behind this archaic transporter. Renet bent inside for a moment, and the others had to admit that they wouldn't be able to even name these parts to save their lives. Maybe literally, even.

"The problem is simply but deadly," she says scooting back out. "The battery is almost blown over. The thing is old and dead, just like this paint job. It should have enough charge to carry us a little longer, but we definitely can't overdo it. We just have to go easy on the thing and we'll be fine for now. If luck is on our side, we'll figure this thing out before we'd have to go cross country."

"Hell," Mona says, sliding down against the hood, "The next place is Florida. Florida! How are we going to go that far south on a dying battery and a dying phone? How can we help the guys if we can't even help ourselves, jeez!"

"The battery and the phone aren't dead yet, and neither are we and neither are them. I don't know yet how we'll do it, but we'll do it. We just have to go with the flow and figure things out when they're right in front of us. When they do die, we'll have a new plan. We always do," Shini smiles, reaching out a hand and pulling Mona back to her feet.

"Thanks Shini," Mona blushes, "You're right."

"Well, we should get as far as we can before it's too late. I don't know how far it'll last, but it'll last something, so we gotta hit the wheel," April suggests, yawning and crawling back into the backseats.

"Sounds like a plan!" Renet smiles, tucking herself into a ball and closing her eyes.

"You got the map set up still, right? Guess we'll have to be on our way down south now," Mona tells Karai, rubbing her temples in an obvious storm of stress.

"Yeah," Karai responds, her eyes faltered on Mona's face until she decides to take a few steps forward. "Give me the keys."

"We have to hurry up but we don't have to hurry that much up, honey," Mona responds.

"In all seriousness," Karai says, lowering her voice and refusing to make eye contact. "I know what happened back there got you shook up. You need some rest. I can handle it for you, perfectly legal and everything."

Mona gives her a small smile in return and then places the keys in her hand. There were no words needed, for the message between them stayed solely within the reflection of their irises. Strong people with thick hearts could see each other like that.

X

5:30. 5:30 in the morning.

The exact tick of the clock signaled her foot against the brake, slowly descending to the exit of the freeway and along a trail into the fields. Her eye twitched out of either exhaustion, frustration, or a cocktail of the two, and as soon as the car had halted she dropped her forehead against the wheel with a groan.

It's not the fact that she wasn't used to be up in the AMs, it was that she knew that any more continuous travel would blow this thing and without some coffee she was going to get some serious mood swings.

Just when she was contemplating whether it would be a good idea to wake them up, April rose with her hair over her eye, and she knew it was the wrong idea.

"What time is it? Jesus, my eyebags have eyebags."

"It isn't all that early. Don't you have to get up for school around this time?" Mona replies, her voice hoarse from lack of use, and Karai is surprised a bit considering the silence had convinced her that she had been asleep.

"If I was a morning person, I'd be taking a zero period," April stretches, "Anyways, what gives? Is the car still working?"

"Functioning, but not reliable. If we overdue it we'll blow the motor and then we're completely screwed, so we got to give it a break. We can stop and snack in a few hours, but I honestly don't have the energy for it right now. I just need to sit and take a breather," Karai sighs, "The other two knocked out?"

"I guess you could say that," April says, Shini and Renet toppled over each and leaning onto her lap.

"I couldn't sleep all night," Mona says, "Wasn't even a possibility."

"Trust me, I'm just as scared as you are. Those boys are my family," April shudders, her face paling, "Every time we check out somewhere new it's a heap of anxiety about who we're supposed to be saving."

"My question is where the hell they go after they've left whatever places we visit. They're separated, so I'm pretty sure they're not traveling together. Whenever we get somewhere, they claim that he left shortly before our arrival. So, what's up with that? Are they going to these places one after another? Are they all traveling together but sending one out at a time? There must be someone following us, and there's a lot more to this than the boys being kidnapped," Mona says.

"There's a lot of this whole conspiracy that we can't understand," Karai frowns, assuring that she didn't say the possibilities that were in her head. No use in frightening them over her own issues. "We just got to go with the flow I guess, do our best to piece things together. At one point, this trip will be over, and we will have the answers whether we like them or not."

"So, what are we gonna do now?" April asks, "Just sit here for a bit?"

"For a bit," Karai yawns, "Unless someone has something better to do."

"Wait, are we here?" Renet awakens squinting her eyes before opening them.

"Girl," Shini growls, rubbing her head as Renet's quick movement knocked her awake. "How am I supposed to do this thing without my beauty sleep?"

"Splendid, everyone's here," Mona says half sarcastically. "We need at least an hour of resting to stall out this thing's lifespan."

"Why don't we play a game?" Renet smiles, sitting up completely.

"Ooh, I like games," Shini purrs.

"What kind of game could we play in the middle of, uh," Karai checks her GPS, "Tennessee?"

"There's plenty of games that could be played with anyone, anywhere. You just got to make the best of it. Watch, look! We can ask questions and get some fun answers and it's just interesting to hear the answers!" Renet says.

"Aren't games supposed to have winners and losers?" Shini asks.

"Not necessarily, just to have some fun. You guys ready?" she continues.

"Sure thing, go ahead."

"Karai, how's your wifi data?"

"Unlimited," Karai says, "But I don't know when I'll be able to charge it again-

"I won't spend too much, I promise. I just gotta go on the website and get some stuff," she says.

Shortly, she smiles in accomplishment from opening a website containing a list of questions.

"So the thing is called Most Likely, and we have to guess who from the group is most likely to do a certain thing. Sound good?" Renet explains.

"Okay, let's do it. Might turn out interesting," Mona says.

"Most likely to get married first?" Renet smirks.

"Definitely not me," Karai gags.

"Commitment? What's that?" April laughed.

"Well, I think getting married would be nice," Mona blushes.

"Damn, could you imagine Raphie-boy in a tux? Now that's a sight I'd like to see!" Karai teases, playfully punching Mona on the shoulder.

"Well, hopefully," Mona sighs sadly.

"He'll be fine, Mona," April reassures. "Once he crashed his car and it completely flipped over, and he got out just fine and walked away. No weird men in black suits have a chance against that boy, if anyone ever could."

"Oh please, I could snap him in half in my sleep," Karai smirks, "Anyways, Shini doesn't seem like the type to be romantic and Renet probably still thinks that you don't have sex until marriage, so that rules them out of the serious romance equation. Next?"

"Who's been your best friend in the whole world?" Renet asks, the glimmer in her eyes slightly dulling.

"Umm…me, myself and I. Nobody can ever hurt you if you don't let them in, right? A pack is fun and games until someone goes rabid," Karai answers slightly defensively. "Oh, I'm not talking shit about you guys, I swear. Just referencing experience. But I guess kicking it with blue eyes is cool."

"My sister was, probably. I know it may sound lame, but when we were living in hell, we had each other and that made everything feel okay. She always listened, you know? Even though she was little, she always seemed to understand," Mona sighed, taking in a deep breath, "It would really help if I was able to talk to her now."

They are silent for a moment, only accompanied by the whistle of the breeze outside. "I know she's listening now, for sure," Renet smiles. "She knows that you're looking for her still – you are, okay? You can never give up hope."

"You're right," Mona says, "It's just hard, with them. Maybe after we get this shit solved and I get Newt in my hands, we'll have better luck."

"I miss my best friends too. Maybe I haven't been without them for as long, but every second not knowing where they are hurts even more," April says sadly. "Casey can be a real pain in the ass, but he's the kind of guy who's always there for you, and Donnie, oh Donnie. Without him, I don't think I could be me."

"Sounds like a lot more than a best friend," Karai says, slightly fearing that it may be the wrong time for commentary.

"Maybe," April says, "Hopefully, I'll be able to find out. Maybe."

"There's no best friend like Michelangelo," Renet smiles, pure affection overtaking her expression. "One time I had the stomach flu which was like, highly contagious, but he still came over and brought Mario Party 8 and my favorite gummy bears from the local mart and then he got sick too, but he didn't care because then we could be sick together. And he lets me pick our Halloween costumes every year and we rescue stray dogs together sometimes and he never buys a new comic without me even when our favorite hit the stores but I had to wait two weeks since I was grounded and he's like, totally a part of me, ever since I moved here. Boy, he's sure gonna love hearing about this adventure!" she pauses for a second, and suddenly her chin began to shake. "He'll get to hear about it, right?"

"Of course he will," April responds immediately, the four, even Karai, turned towards her with serious expressions.

"I hope this is the last adventure I ever have without him," she says, silent tears streaking down her face.

"Never give up hope, remember?" Mona smiles kindly, wrapping her arm around Renet's shoulders.

"Yeah," Renet smiles, wiping away the tears and making herself smile. "You know, adventures wouldn't be the same without you guys either. All of you. We've only been together a couple of days, but I feel like I've found the big sisters I always wished I had."

"Awe," April smiles, jumping on the other side to snuggle into Renet's arm. "That's one of the sweetest things someone's ever told me."

"I never really had a best friend either," Shini said, "I wasn't always a loner, but I wouldn't exactly call them friends. I accepted being by myself though, but I guess things are different, because these days with you guys make me feel like this is what it's like to have friends."

"I don't think any of us have had girl friends before," Karai says, "So we can be best friends for now, at least."

"Everything's going to work out girls, as long as keep our heads up. Don't let them see your fear, even though I know we all have it. Even you, Karai," Mona half teases, "We've been pretty bad ass these past few days, and it's gonna keep getting harder from here, but I know we can take it. We'll figure this thing out, save the boys, defeat the evil ones. We got this; together."

Renet grabs Mona and April and pulls them into a hug, snuggling her face between them. Shini shrugs and joins them, April moving her arm to welcome her. Karai watches in discomfort, but Renet grabs her by the arm and yanks her in too. She is stiff and awkward and doesn't know how you're supposed to do this, but for some reason, she doesn't protest. Other than this, she had only been hugged once, by Leo when he let her hide in his attic.

"Okay, I think we're about ready. You guys think the car can hack it now?" April says.

"We'll have to try," Karai says, quickly escaping and sliding up to the driver's seat. "We're going to Florida, right? We've got a long way to go. We'll hit the gas station again as soon as we see one, but I don't see any signs of civilization for miles."

"Hah, it's like on Spongebob when Spongebob and Squidward were trying to deliver the pizza," Renet laughs, "See any moss?"

"Damnit, my phone has 55% and we won't have an outlet for decades," Karai growls, reopening Google Maps on her phone. "You read me directions," handing the phone to the back without looking and waiting for anyone to grab it.

"55%? That's more than half," Renet says.

"If it's under 70, it's almost dead," Karai insists. "So, keep heading south?"

"That's the plan," says Shini, her eyes glazing the phone screen, only for Karai to suddenly hit the accelerator, causing her to drop the phone and everyone in the van to get whip lash.

"Karai!" Mona exclaims, rubbing the back of her neck and holding on tight.

"This is like a 12-hour drive, and we have limited time, remember? We've got to get going!" Karai responds, her eyes fixed on the road. The van seemed to moan in suffering as the keys were turned into the ignition, a sad sign of its inevitable collapse. The thing had been through a lot for a few decades now, so it would only be expected that a trip like this would be the blow for the old thing to finally kick the bucket.

"After this, I never want to ride in a car again," April groans, balling up and closing her eyes for a moment.

It was figured that enough talking had been done in the past hour or so, for talking to much was exhausting and seemed so slow down time in the instances that it needed to speed. The car drove through the vacant fields with only the awful hacking sound the worn-down engine was giving, and perhaps the biggest reason for the silence was either the fear of this thing breaking down or the plans of what they would do when it does. It was sure to collapse soon enough.

Soon enough, somewhere in Georgia, the van collapsed.

"No, no, no, no," Mona cursed to herself clenching a curl of her head in frustration. "When we're in Georgia too, wow. One state away! Not one state, right? Couldn't do that one simple thing?!"

"Pull over, we're still in the middle of traffic," April panics.

"Well yeah, my plans must be to get us all killed in a tragic Southern accident," Karai scoffs, also in frustration, as she slows down the accelerator and slides the car over to the field on the side of the road.

"Oh no," Renet's eyes widen, "Oh no, how will we get there now?!" She jumps over to Shini, grabbing her by the collar, "Will we have no choice but to call our parents and have the emergency pick us up after all this leaving the boys to be inevitably doomed all because none of us wanted cars for our sixteenth birthdays-

"Chill Blondie, we'll make things just fine. I mean, we've got our way through some crazy shit in the last few days and I'm sure getting a new transportation won't be the worst of it," Karai says, letting the car fuse out, frowning as she lets her hands fall into her lap.

"Karai's right, this won't be the worst of it," Shini smiles in reassurance. "I've been getting along alright since I got to America without a car or anything."

"Yeah, maybe because we live in New York, where there's a galore of taxis and buses and Ubers oh, and, the fact that you would need to travel 30 minutes at most. I don't know if you've looked around, but we are the middle of nowhere in hickland South and we still have like six hours to go!" Mona exclaims.

"Okay, but is no one talking about the fact that I don't know what to do with this van? I can't just ditch it here, my dad would kill me twice!" April chimes.

"Well what are we supposed to do with it, carry it on our backs?" Karai asks.

"Okay, okay, freaking out is only going to make things worse. Doesn't look like there's any diners around here so we're going to have to do our thinking on our own here, and fast. Speed can't stop, remember? Who knows if they're long gone from Meadow Woods right now?! Anyways, okay. Let's think of a plan," Renet nods in determination.

"She's right, we don't have time to sit here and bitch. I'm sure the guys are in a much more uncomfortable situation right now. Any ideas on how to get there?" Shini says.

"I don't think there's any public transportation right here, considering we are on a highway in the actual middle of nowhere. So that's out at this point in time," Mona says.

"Well, I may have something to put on the table…" Karai says.

"Which is?" April asks, wincing in concern.

"Well, there's this thing called hitchhiking. Ever heard of it kids?" she continues.

"Oh no. Hell no," Mona immediately shuts down.

"I've actually done it before, and it worked. Maybe it's not a bad idea," Shini says.

"Not a bad idea?! This place looks like a Texas Chainsaw Massacre waiting to happen!" Mona says.

"But would anyone want to put five girls in their vehicle? That's a lot of people for a car that's already occupied," April says.

"Key word: girls," Karai says.

"Key word: exactly!" Mona shouts. "I don't know about you, but I am not looking to get raped. Besides, this is racist country around here. My people didn't exactly have the best history."

"There's five of us, and I'm sure none of us are wimps. We can fight off some old beer belly man if he gets too creepy," Karai says.

"Ever heard of the concept of five old beer belly men?" Mona says.

"Okay, Renet, what do you have to say about it?" April says, but pauses when she looks up to not see Renet in the circle. The four girls scan their eyes around the perimeter in confusion, until they notice her standing on the side of the road with her thumb sticking in the air.

"RENET!" Mona panics, and Karai can't help but laugh.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of wasting time standing around when the boys' lives are in our hands. Yeah, we're going to have to do things that are dangerous. I mean, what have we done so far? We fled a murder, ran away from home, tricked a pimp in sexual context, escaped a damn serial killer, and not to mention are on a mission following the lead of some villainous cult to prevent them murdering again! I'm sure getting a ride from some redneck won't be the worst thing in the world, and we definitely don't have time to be messing around. I'm not going to let him down, ever again. Are you guys coming with me? Because I guess that decision is yours," Renet says assertively, turning her head back to the road.

The other girls look at each other in a tint of shock, tint of fear, tint of sadness and tint of urgency, and they nothing as they follow their friend to the grass, five thumbs sticking out in the road.

In the meantime, they encountered around 10 catcalls that didn't bother to stop and one soda thrown towards them, in which after they had to stop Karai from chasing the vehicle to fling a knife at the rude passenger. Yet, even though they definitely were getting noticed, no one bothered to stop. They began to grow visibly frustrated and even upset, when a giant white van pulled over.

They admitted to swallowing a gulp in their throat in nervousness as the window rolled down, other than Karai, whose skills resulted in little to no fear regarding strangers. Therefore, she was the one to walk up while the others trailed behind her.

"Hey there. Where you folk headed to?" the man asks, and although they cringed heavily at the confederate flag on his tee shirt they smiled back.

"We're looking for a way down to Meadow Woods, Florida. We strayed some way from home and really need a way there, our van broke down and left us all on our own," she batters her eyelashes in an attempt to look flattering. Yet with these hillbillies, she should have relied on April to do the job. "Is there anyway you could help us out?"

"Oh, why sure? I'm headed in a direction like that anyways. There's enough room to go around! Hop in the back, ladies!" he says.

The others start to hesitate, but Karai turns back to them and nods in reassurance. Although she always acted annoyed, they knew she wouldn't let anything bad happen to them. The jump into the back with fingers crossed and the van begins to go, leaving behind Kirby O'Neil's hippie van to sit in the dust.

"And what are we going to do about that?" April shivers, gesturing to the van as it grows smaller and smaller.

"I'm sure Kirby must have reported it missing. Maybe we can call in and give a location," Mona says.

"They'll know we headed South. But they won't know where we are anymore," Shini says.

"Isn't that going to freak him out more?" April sighs.

"I'm not sure we have another choice," Mona continues, setting a hand on April's shoulder.

"Okay. We'll call when we have access to a public phone," April says.

"Keep it down guys, we don't want him hearing any of this," Karai whispers.

"So, where you headed?" Renet asks the man, despite the fact that Mona wanted them to have as little communication as possible.

"Oh, nothing too special. I'm headed on to Okeechobee for a meeting. I'll be driving straight through Meadow Woods, so I could drop you ladies off. I'm probably going to be stopping down in a town on the way to pick up a friend though, so expect a little detour. I sure hope we have room up in here," the man chuckles.

"Sure thing," April responds, and they lean back into the crowd at the back of the van, slightly huddled together.

The rest of the drive was buzzingly awkward, only the buzz of twang country music and the hum of the man singing along. Finally, Renet decided that conversation would be beneficial once more. The others glared at her, but she figured that if they humanize the man with conversation, they would be more comfortable with him. She hated to see her friends far from at ease, even though she knew his offensive flag would be worse to see for a few of them than it was for her.

"So, where are you from?"

"I'm from a little town in South Carolina, decided to take a long ride around. Those fields in Georgia you just gotta see. Ah, God bless America," he says with pride.

"We are coming from New York, visiting a friend. I'm from California though. I miss it a lot," she sighs.

"Why, I'd say you're blessed to be out of that hell hole. Good for nothing land infested by liberal cucks. Hopin' those damn quakes will break it off the rest of us, so we could be Americans. Not that New York is much better, with those damn Yankees. A belle like you is better off here in South, the homeland," he says.

They glance at each other, and Karai can't help but laugh. To be honest, she had always known these types of people exist, but to see one live and in person was a gem.

They noticed his greasy glare through the front mirror sometimes, but knew it was best to keep looking away.

Nothing was more relieving than the eventual "Welcome to Florida" sign.

It was around 4 o'clock, the sun still shining in the summer sky. These drives were so exhausting that they were beginning to lose track of what day it was. The only thing they prayed for is that the boys would have been traveling by car too. Otherwise, they had no chance of catching one of them on time. Even so, Mona knew it wouldn't be that easy with Newt. There's no way that he would simply lead them to the boys – there must be some kind of trick. She was just hoping that this path would help her figure out what the trick is.

Finally, after what felt like a million agonizing years, the van strolled off the freeway and into a rural-looking small town, and then the van pulled into a drive-way of a raggedy looking home.

A few moments after the harsh braking of the van, a stop after many hours of sitting and driving, they waited for a big-bearded man to emerge.

"Umm, excuse me sir?" Renet says, waving up her hand, "Is it cool if we stop in for a bathroom break?"

"I don't think my buddy ole' Jed would mind. Go on in girlies, I'll be waiting," he smirks.

"Are you insane?" Mona whispers to her as they stroll out of the van.

"When you gotta go, you gotta go!" she responds.

"It's no biggie, there's not a lot these hicks could do. They seem idiotic, but generally harmless. Let's get to it, before they ditch us here," Karai says, and they follow her in a single-file line. Truthfully, they all really had to go.

Approximately two minutes later, they knew it was a mistake. Maybe peeing in a bush would have been a better plan.

April was the first behind the bathroom door, the others waiting outside it, when they heard her scream.

"Ginger? You okay in there?" Karai asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Why, if it isn't a dolly-face sitting in my hearty home. Feeling comfy, sweetheart? You know, you're quite a pretty little thang. Nice set of thighs ya got there."

"Alright, that's it!" Mona shouts, slamming her fit body against the cheapy built door, obviously personally constructed, revealing April quickly holding her clothing up and standing in the corner away from an overweight bearded white man who had been hiding behind a shower curtain.

"My oh my, if it isn't a little-

The word made her heart drop. At first, the color flushed from her face, her body frozen in time. It had been so long since she had been called that, but by him, oh god.

At first, she felt small, degraded, but not for long. Her strength overcame her, the rage that hid between her calm, and she pounced and slammed him against the bathroom wall.

"Fat pig," she cursed under her breath, her hand clasped around his neck.

"Mona, this fat fuck has guns! We need to blast out of here!" Shini says, her eyes shining with alarm.

She was seeing red and would be satisfied only by seeing his veins pop out of his forehead, even if she knew Shini was right. For someone always bouncing on a conscience, escaping it was only for her best interest sometimes.

Karai walked over and put a hand on Mona's shoulder, looking at her with a rare sympathetic and calming look in her eyes. "Let's go, Mona. We have to get out of here. I know deep shit when I'm in it."

She sighed and threw the man against the wall before getting up, bursting out of the door with the others behind her. The others each grabbed a belonging and threw it at his head as they exited, for he was too overweight anyways to be able to catch up with them.

"Go through the back, we don't want the other loon seeing after us!" Shini says, and they all run through a back door, jetting through the dry and dusty grass of the yard and quickly jumping over the wooden fence. It's a good thing that they had gotten practice before.

Once they were over, landing in an alley, they continued running, trying to stray as far away as possible. Finally, they reached a small strip mall, halting and taking a few minutes to catch their breath.

"Workout of the year," April muttered under her breath.

Mona slides down against the wall, her chest rising and falling. Renet slides next to her and lays her cheek on her shoulder, looking up and smiling at her. "I'm proud of you, you know."

"Logic over feelings," Mona responds with a brief smile of irony.

"I'm sorry about that. We should have listened in the first place," April said, looking down in shame.

"It's okay, I wouldn't have expected you to know. There's a lot we go through that other people don't notice, you know, but there's no way I could blame you for that. I was sort of waiting for it anyway. Psh, I wonder what in the world type of meeting they were headed too," Mona says.

April slides and rests on other shoulder, and Shini wraps her arms around them all. Karai puts her hand on her shoulder, patting it a few times.

"There's a payphone," April sighs. "I guess I could report the van missing now."

She stands and walks towards it, popping out a quarter and preparing for the call. "Can someone get the phone for the police station back home?"

Karai does so and hands her phone to April without words, and she dials in the summer.

"Hello, I'm calling to report a missing vehicle that has disappeared from Manhattan. It's a hippie old style van, owner Kirby O'Neil. It remains on the Interstate 40 in Tennessee. I truly wish I had more information to provide," she hangs up on the line, cringing a bit. "They'll track a call from Florida reporting the vehicle in Tennessee. Won't that throw them off. I lowkey hoped they'll be able to recognize the voice, so my dad will at least know I'm okay."

Renet exited the small shop they waited in front of, making them raise an eyebrow. "Sorry, I really needed some gummy bears," she says, shoving them in her mouth. "Want any?"

"Hell, why not," Karai says, popping a few in her mouth as well. Except the orange ones. She didn't like the orange ones.

"You girls okay?"

The voice made them jump up in alarm, especially after the day they were having. It belonged to a very old African-American woman, who had a warm look in her eyes.

They hesitated and looked at each other, deciding whether communicating is a good idea.

"It's alright kids, I don't bite. I kind of get the feeling you are all far from home. Am I right?"

She turned the car off and stepped out, and it became evident that she wasn't going to give up.

"Yeah, we aren't from here. We're a bit lost looking for some friends, to be honest," Renet said. She knew someone with a genuine heart when she saw one.

"Aw, well how scary it must be out here! This isn't exactly a good town to be in, especially for young girls. How did you lot get down here in the first place?" she asked.

"We were traveling in a van, all the way from New York. The van broke down in Tennessee, and we've been making with transportation ever since. We haven't exactly had the best experiences," April sighs.

"Well, where is it that you need to be today?" she asked.

"Meadow Woods," Shini says, "Are you familiar with it?"

"Oh yes, I have a granddaughter living down there as a matter of fact! It isn't too far from here, only about an hour and a half maybe. I would be willing to help you girls out, if you'd like. I'd love to visit Annie anyways!" she says, smiling.

They look at each other, nervous and exhausted looks in their eyes.

"What Renet said earlier was right," Mona says, "We have to do anything we can to get to the boys, no matter what the risks are. And, I'm a bit optimistic here."

"Come on in girls, it shouldn't take too long. I think I'll have enough room for you all. Get comfortable," she says as they pile into the minivan.

"What's your name?" Mona asked her.

"You can call me Auntie Louise," she smiles. "Now, I won't ask for y'all's names because I have a hunch you wouldn't like to tell me. I get the feeling you guys are trying not to be found."

"Something like that," Karai sighs.

"As long as you all are safe. Are you safe, darlings?"

"Yes, we are okay. We'll be fine as long as we get to our friends," April smiles.

"I sure hope so," Auntie Louise says.

Finally, there was a sign that was wonderful to see – "Welcome to Meadow Woods."

"Where would you like to be dropped off?" she asks.

"Any coffee shop is good, we could catch dinner before we meet up with the others," Mona says.

"Okay, I'm going to trust you, because I get the feeling you're a responsible girl. You like school, sweetheart?" she asked Mona.

"Yes, I'm really into history actually. World history," she smiled back.

"Now, I thought so. Before I let you run along, I want to make sure you all mean it when you tell me you're going to be okay. You'll go back to your parents soon, won't you? I'm sure they're worried sick."

"Yes, I promise that we are all okay. We'll get in touch with our parents as soon as we can," Shini tells her.

"Thank you," Karai says, who had been quiet for most of the trip, bowing in respect. "Thank you so much for graciousness. We will never forget you, Auntie Louise."

"Of course love," she smiles. "Just remember to pay it forward."

The girls stand up on the sidewalk, starting to wave as Auntie Louise puts her hand on the steering wheel. "Take care girls. I won't forget you either."

"See, there's always good people out there for every bad one," Renet smiles.

"Looks like we lucked out with this one," Karai says, "And now, for Meadow Woods. Meadow Woods, here we come."


End file.
